The Opium Poppy is one of the most recognized flowers and "drug medicines" in history. The Mediterranean region contains the earliest archeological evidence of human use; the oldest known seeds date back to more than 5000 BCE in the Neolithic age, with purposes such as food, anaesthetics, and ritual. Evidence from ancient Greece indicates that opium was consumed in several ways, including inhalation of vapors, suppositories, medical poultices, and as a combination with hemlock for suicide.
 
The original art is from Kohler's Medicinal Plants, a German medicinal guide published by Franz Eugen Kohler in 1887. It was writen by Hermann Kohler and contains chromolithography plates by the illsutrators Walther Muller, C.F. Schmidt, and K. Gunther. 
 
The pages have been scnaned in, cropped, and retouched to ensure the highest quality reproduction possible.