That's an informative post thanks!
that Leshaze cut sounds fantastic...
Yesterday, my dogs killed a large Afro-Iberian ocellated lizard, of those more than half a meter long, right at my front door... I couldn't help it. The ocellated lizard took refuge between the wall of the house and a large flower pot, from where it tried to bit at the dogs noses to try to contain them; When I got the East German Shepherd to leave him and come to me, the ocellated lizard bit the nose of the small Andalusian winery terrier and tried to run away, and that was the end of him: "Yako" jumped towards him, and practically took off the reptil in half when he caught it... It is a shame, since they are increasingly rare animals, very useful in their ecosystem, and harmless, if they are not disturbed.I haven't seen any snakes about yet.
We're expecting rain today also. Currently I can hear thunder in the distant mountains...it should arrive within the hour.
I've seen ocellated lizards only a few times. Shame that Jako killed it, but it is what it is.
In Villena (Valencia):
www.elmundo.es
Wow! An interesting read.Si, claro, primo, conozco la lactuca virosa, y su savia lechosa... Pero tanto como como el opio...(en potencia, claro; piensa que por aquí hay de vez en cuando, cada vez menos, opio casero de amapolas locales; de amapolas blancas, que cada vez se ven menos...). Por aquí la llaman "lechuga salvaje" o "lechuga egipcia", y crecen salvajes y hasta los 2 metros de altura (sin goteo, je) por todos lados...: las plantas verdes entre el secarral que se ven trás mi sobrina, en esta foto de hace unos años, son lactuca virosa.
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¡Ufff! El estramonio ya es harina de otro costal... "Estramonio: la hierba del demonio", que dicen... Nunca lo he probado, pero me han contado muchas historias sobre sus peligros y dificultad de dosificar...
Postscript: about what I told you about the local white poppy. In the first news item, from EL MUNDO, I think they make the mistake of confusing someone's crop with a really wild field of white poppies, which I have always seen mixed with the much more abundant non-psychotropic red poppy. The second news item, from CCM (Castilla-La Mancha Media; official media of the Autonomous Community), does refer to truly wild poppy fields:
EL MUNDO
CONSUMPTION OF DRUGS
Death among the poppy and opium flowers
It is happening in the fields of Castile, where every spring young people from all over Europe come to cut the poppy flower so that it weeps opium. Ryan suffered "lethal poisoning" after 'sucking' plants growing in the wild
Corpse of pasquale, a 32-year-old Italian, in the middle of a poppy field in Albacete. CIVIL GUARDIA.
06/10/2022 14:26
Pasquale died among the flowers. The civil guard who had to take the photo of his corpse in a poppy field in Albacete came out with an impressionistic oil painting. A few minutes before that fateful June afternoon, this 32-year-old Italian had sneaked into a poppy plantation armed with a razor blade stuck between two ice cream sticks. He was accompanied by two compatriots with whom he had gone to do the same thing as the day before (...)
Muerte entre las flores de amapolas y opio
Pasquale murió entre las flores. Al guardia civil que le tocó hacer la foto de su cadáver sobre un campo de amapolas de Albacete le salió un óleo impresionista. Unos minutos...
CCM
The "poppy" or white poppy, the drug that attracts European travelers to Castilla-La Mancha
@ DRUG ADDICTED POPPIES ####.transfer
For a decade, hundreds of European travelers have been coming to Castilla-La Mancha in search of the wild white poppy, also known as the royal poppy, the one that grows spontaneously.
The interest of these poppies lies in their bulb, since a latex is extracted from it which, once dried, turns out to be opium.
That is, it is a substance that is extracted from the capsules of the opium poppy, as it is also known, which contains this narcotic or analgesic drug.
As the authorities warn, its uncontrolled consumption entails risks and its possession constitutes a crime.
In fact, both the locations of private white poppy plantations and those places where a greater number of wild plantations usually grow, are kept secret, especially in the province of Toledo, to avoid illegal opium extraction.
Spain, a great producer
Spain is one of the countries with the highest production of opiate alkaloids for the pharmaceutical industry, for codeine and morphine, for example.
These poppies leave hundreds of seeds, easily dispersed, which lead to their wild growth in vacant land.
This is precisely the claim for dozens of European travelers, "poppy lovers", who come to Castilla-La Mancha in search of the flower of laziness.
Currently, we have 11,000 hectares of poppy fields with secret locations, most of them on our land and managed by a single company.
The way to obtain these opiate alkaloids from these poppies is as follows:
- They make a longitudinal cut.
- The bulb releases a white latex.
- It oxidizes in the sun.
- Is collected.
- Knead.
- It is left to dry.
Risks of this practice
The risks to which those who carry out this practice are exposed range from a fine of 600 to 900 euros, in the best of cases, to a crime against public health, if a certain amount is exceeded.
