The remembrance poppy

What it is

The remembrance poppy is a small flower of paper, cloth or plastic. It is given in exchange for a donation to a charity for former service people. In Britain it is worn from late October until Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday of November, and on 11 November, the day the fighting stopped in 1918. In New Zealand poppies are worn mainly for Anzac Day, 25 April. At ceremonies, officials and veterans lay circular wreaths of poppies at the foot of the memorial.

Where it comes from

In 1915 a Canadian army doctor, John McCrae, wrote the poem In Flanders Fields, which opens with poppies blowing between the crosses of soldiers' graves. In 1918 an American teacher, Moina Michael, moved by the poem, vowed to wear a red poppy and campaigned for it as a memorial emblem. A Frenchwoman, Anna Guérin, organised the making of cloth poppies to raise money for war orphans and took the idea to the Allied countries. The British Legion held its first Poppy Appeal in 1921.

The flower itself

The field poppy is an annual. Its seeds can lie in the soil for many years and sprout when the ground is disturbed and light reaches them. Shelling and digging on the battlefields of Flanders and northern France did exactly that, and in spring the churned earth turned red. Each flower lasts only a day or so. France chose a different field flower for the same purpose: the blue cornflower, called the bleuet.

How to take part

1. Take a poppy from a volunteer collector or a collection box in late October or early November, and give what you can.
2. Attend a service at a local war memorial on Remembrance Sunday. A two minute silence is kept at eleven o'clock.
3. In Ypres, in Belgium, the Last Post is sounded at the Menin Gate every evening.

Good manners

• Wearing a poppy is a personal choice. Do not press others about whether they wear one.
• Stand still and silent during the two minutes.
• Do not remove poppies or wreaths from a memorial.

The flowers

Remembrance poppyAn artificial red poppy worn to honour those lost in warCommon poppyThe vivid red wildflower of fields and remembranceCornflowerA bright blue wildflower once common in European grain fields

Sources and further reading

• Remembrance poppy on Wikipedia
• Royal British Legion