sleep flower

Noun

sleep flower (plural sleep flowers)

1. (literary, poetic) A poppy, particularly the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, whose extract was traditionally used as a sleep aid.
   • In the cracks of the marble floors, in the crannies of the walls, springing from beneath the broken statue, voiceless yet persistent, grow scarlet poppies — the sleep flowers of the world, yielding to this yellowing Temple of Mysteries the quieting influence of their presence.1900, Lilian Bell, As Seen By Me
   • The sleep-flower sways in the wheat its head,
     Heavy with dreams, as that with bread:
     The goodly grain and the sun-flush'd sleeper
     The reaper reaps, and Time the reaper.before 1908, Francis Thompson, The Poppy (poem)
2. Any flower whose consumption, in whole or in part, causes the consumer to fall asleep.
   • After the lazy lover had sown the sleep seed all over the grounds, he went away.[…] All along the galleries it grew and grew, and in a few days the air of the place was heavy with the scent of the pale-coloured sleep-flowers. Then the whole world of the palace began to drowse.[…] And the pale...1875, “The Sleep Seed”, in The Peep-show: for Little Readers, Oxford University
   • […] The wind will shift and the way will open. […] Then, go back to the garden with the sleep flowers. Use Jinn's power to control the wind, and spread the sleep pollen into Rolante castle.1995, Squaresoft, Seiken Densetsu 3, SNES