Tasmanian flower farmer ‘shocked’ to learn she planted opium poppies by mistake
A Tasmanian flower farmer who planted a new line of “really beautiful poppies” has issued a warning to other gardeners after learning she had mistakenly grown opium poppies.
Kate Dixon, who operates a commercial flower farm at Clifton Beach, about 25km south of Hobart, said she received a call from the authorities earlier this month after they saw a photo of her frilly pink poppies on Instagram.
“I got an email through my website as an inquiry,” Dixon told ABC radio. “And at first glance, thought it was a phishing scam, because I had absolutely no idea that the poppies that I was growing were questionable or illegal and restricted.”
Officers from the department of natural resources and environment took a sample of the flowers to the University of Tasmania for testing, and determined they were of prohibited species Papaver somniferum, known as alkaloid or opium poppies, and Papaver bracteatum, known as Persian or Iranian poppies.
Dixon said she took “full responsibility” for not spotting the flowers earlier but said the seeds were widely available.
“I was just really shocked because I’ve seen these, I bought these particular seeds from a mainland seed supplier, and I’ve definitely seen these varieties available for local sale, I’ve seen them in people’s cottage gardens here,” she told the ABC.
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In a later post on her Instagram page, Dixon said she had bought seeds containing what she thought was Poppy Pink Frills, or Papaver paeoniflorum, and a coral oriental poppy, Papaver oriental.
Papaver paeoniflorum is a cultivar of Papavar somniferum, and is listed as a prohibited species in Tasmania. What Dixon thought were oriental poppies were actually the very similar-looking Papaver bracteatum.
In a statement, the department confirmed it had removed 50 plants from Dixon’s property.
“The department appreciates the assistance of the property owner,” the statement said. “Where prohibited poppies have been found in a garden setting in the first instance our preferred approach is generally education, awareness and to engage with the owner.”
The chief executive of Poppy Growers Tasmania, Keith Rice, told Guardian Australia the rules on growing poppies in Tasmania were clear, and urged gardeners to be more careful.
“The government factsheets are very clear on what you cannot grow, it’s a very well-known crop in Tasmania and does not look very alike to the legal kind,” Rice said.
Rice said he had not heard of seeds from restricted varieties being found in a flower seed mix, and said that strict licensing protocols made that extremely unlikely.
“It’s been an issue in Tasmania going back almost a century when poppies were grown in flower gardens,” he said. “Over the years, that’s become far, far more restricted, they’re basically not there any more.”
Tasmania is the largest alkaloid poppy producer in the world, and supplies almost half of all global demand. The crops are strictly monitored, but there are frequent reports of people becoming sick after drinking “poppy tea”.
Earlier this month there was a national recall of poppy seeds after 19 people were hospitalised with severe poisoning after drinking homemade poppy seed tea. None of those cases were in Tasmania.
It is illegal to grow, manufacture, sell or possess alkaloid poppies in Tasmania without a licence. For more more information about poppies, readers can also contact the Regulated Crops Branch on 1300 368 500 or email poppies@nre.tas.gov.au
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