This image was captured March 2007 at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park in front of the Conservatory of flowers.
Poppies are used as emblems on tombstones to symbolize eternal sleep. This aspect was used, fictionally, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to create magical poppy fields, dangerous because they caused those who passed through them to sleep forever. (L. Frank Baum, Michael Patrick Hearn, The Annotated Wizard of Oz, p 173, ISBN 0-517-500868) Read more about Poppies on Wikipedia