opium (papaver somniferum f

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Opium (Papaver somniferum F. papaveraceae)

Common name: Opium

Scientific name: Papaver somniferum F. papaveraceae

Part used: the air dried milky exudates obtained by increasing the full grown unripe capsule

Main active co nstituent: morphine and codeine

Uses : morphine as analgesic and narcotic and Codeine as antitussive

Commercial poppy cultivation in France

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Capsule of Papaver somniferum showing latex (opium) exuding from incision

Uses

Use as food

The seeds of the poppy are widely used as the popular "poppy seed" found in and on many food items such as bagels, bialys,

muffins and cakes. The seeds can be pressed to form poppyseed oil, which can be used in cooking, or as a carrier for

oil-based paints. The primary flavor compound is 2-pentylfuran.[8]

Seeds themselves contain absolutely no alkaloids whatsoever but may

have a slight residual coating depending upon the way in which they

were harvested,[1] the television show MythBusters demonstrated that

one could test positive for narcotics after consuming 4 poppy seed

bagels. The show Brainiac: Science Abuse had subjects who tested

positive with only 2 poppy seed bagels. This situation was parodied on

the show Seinfeld. As a result, the US standard for unirnalysis raised the

threshold for a positive result by a considerable amount. As a result it isalmost humanly impossible to offer a positive toxicology screen due to

normal consumption of poppy seed products, or seeds themselves.

In India, Iran and Turkey opium poppy is known as Khaskhas or Ha ha (pronounced: "Hashhash" or in Persian: "Khash Khaash")

and is considered a highly nutritious food item, mostly added in dough while baking bread, highly recommended for

pregnant women and new mothers.

In Lithuania and Eastern Slovakia a traditional meal is prepared for the K ios (Christmas Eve) dinner from the poppy seeds.

They are ground and mixed w ith water; round yeast biscuits (kiukai) (slovak - Bobalky) are soaked in the resulting poppy

seed 'milk' and served cold.

In Central Europe poppy strudel and traditional bejgli is very popular in winter, especially during Christmas.

Opium is the air-dried milky exudation obtained from excised unripe fruits. It is extensively smoked as an intoxicant.

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Commercial products are called Turkey Opium, Indian Opium, Persian Opium, Chinese Opium, and Egyptian Opium, and they

differ in appearance and quality. Opium is largely used for manufacture of morphine, codeine, narcotine, laudenine,

papaverine, and many other alkaloids. It is also the source of the toxic and extremely habitforming narcotic heroin or

dimorphine, prohibited in some countries. Seeds contain no opium and are used extensively in baking and sprinkling on rolls

and bread. Seeds are a good source of energy. They are also the source of a drying-oil, used for manufacture of paints,

varnishes, and soaps, and in foods and salad dressing. Oil cake is a good fodder for cattle. Seeds used for preparation of

emulsions (white-seeded varieties preferred); the bluish-black varieties are generally used for baking. Stems used for

straw. Lecithin has been extracted from poppy seed meal. Seedlings are eaten as a potherb in Iran. As the peony flowered

poppy, the opium poppy is widely grown as an ornamental, even here in the US, where it is illegal to grow.

Folk Medicine

Regarded as analgesic, anodyne, antitussive, aphrodisiac, astringent, bactericidal, calmative, carminative, demulcent,

emollient, expectorant, hemostat, hypotensive, hypnotic, narcotic, nervine, sedative, sudorific, tonic, poppy has been

used in folk remedies for asthma, bladder, bruises, cancer, catarrh, cold, colic, conjunctivitis, cough, diarrhea, dysentery,

dysmenorrhea, enteritis, enterorrhagia, fever, flux, headache, hemicrania, hypertension, hypochondria, hysteria,

inflammation, insomnia, leucorrhea, malaria, mania, melancholy, nausea, neuralgia, otitis, pertussis, prolapse, rectitis,

rheumatism, snakebite, spasm, spermatorrhea, sprain, stomachache, swelling, toothache, tumor, ulcers, and warts.

Hartwell (19671971) mentions opium as a remedy for such cancerous conditions as cancer of the skin, stomach, tongue,

uterus, carcinoma of the breast, polyps of the ear, nose, and vagina; scleroses of the liver, spleen, and uterus; and tumors

of the abdomen, bladder, eyes, fauces, liver, spleen, and uvula. The plant, boiled in oil, is said to aid indurations and

tumors of the liver. The tincture of the plant is said to help cancerous ulcers. Smoking the plant is said to cure cancer of

the tongue but I suspect it is more liable to cause it. The capsule decoction and an injection of the seed decoction are said

to help uterine cancer. Egyptians claim to become more cheerful, talkative, and industrious following the eating of opium.

When falling asleep, they have visions of "orchards and pleasure gardens embellished with many trees, herbs, and various

flowers." Lebanese use their opium wisely; to quiet excitable people, to relieve toothache, headache, incurable pain, and

for boils, coughs, dysentery, and itches. Algerians tamp opium into tooth cavities. Iranians use the seed for epistaxis; a

paste made from Linum, Malva, and Papaver is applied to boils. In Ayurvedic medicine, the seeds are considered

aphrodisiac, constipating, and tonic; the fruit antitussive, binding, cooling, deliriant, excitant, and intoxicant, yet

anaphrodisiac i f freely indulged; the plant is considered aphrodisiac, astringent, fattening, stimulant, tonic, and good for

the complexion; in Unani medicine, the fruit is suggested as well for anemia, chest pains, dysentery, fever, but is correctly

deemed hypnotic, narcotic, and perhaps harmful to the brain (Duke, 1983c). The plant provides a narcotic that induces

sleep; a sleep so heavy that the person becomes insensible. When the Roman soldiers at Golgotha took pity on their

prisoner on the cross, they added this poppy juice to the potion of sour wine. Its compounds are used in medicine as

analgesic, anodyne, antipasmodic, hypnotic, narcotic, sedative, and as respiratory depressants and to relieve severe pain.

Jewish authorities maintain that the plant and its stupefacience w ere well known among the Hebrews more than 2,000

years ago. The Jerushalmi warns against opium eating. Although the seeds contain no narcotic alkaloids, urinalysis following

their ingestion may suggest the morphine or heroin addict's urinalysis (Duke, 1973).

Chemistry

Seed is reported to contain moisture, 4.35.2; protein, 22.324.4; ether extract 46.549.1; nitrogen-free extract, 11.714.3;

crude fibre, 4.85.8; ash, 5.66.0; calcium, 1.031.45; phosphorous, 0.790.89%; iron, 8.511.1 mg/100 g; thiamine,

7401,181; riboflavin, 7651,203; and nicotinic acid, 8001,280 mg/100 g; carotene is absent. Minor minerals in the seeds

include: iodine, 6 mg/kg; manganese, 29 mg/kg; copper, 22.9 mg/kg; magnesium, 15.6 g/kg; sodium, 0.3 g/kg; potassium,

5.25 g/kg; and zinc, 130 mg/kg; the seeds also contain lecithin, 2.80%; oxalic acid, 1.62%; pentosans, 3.03.6%; traces of

narcotine and an amorphous alkaloid; and the enzymes diastase, emulsin, lipase, and nuclease. Poppyseed oil cakes were

estimated to have 88 feed units per 100 kg, 27.5% digestible crude protein and 25.6% digestible true protein. Per 100 g theseed is reported to contain 533 calories, 6.8 g H2O, 18.0 g protein, 44.7 g fat, 23.7 g total carbohydrate, 6.3 g fiber, 6.8 g

ash, 1448 mg Ca, 848 mg P, 9.4 mg Fe, 21 mg Na, 700 mg K, a trace of b-carotene equivalent, 0.95 mg thiamine, 0.17 mg

riboflavin, and 0.98 mg niacin.

Description

Annual or biennial herb, 50150 cm tall, glabrous or glaucous, sometimes with a few spreading bristles; stems slightly

branched, erect leaves large, numerous, ovate to oblong, serrate to dentate-serrate, clasping at base, glaucous, the lower

ones pinnatifid; flowers on long peduncles with nodding buds that expand into erect flowers; petals 48, white to purplish,

in varieties also pink, violet, bluish, or red, 57 cm long; sepals glabrous, 1.52 cm long; fruit a capsule, ovoid to globose,

glabrous, 46 cm long, 3.54 cm in diameter, with 812 rayed sessile stigmas; seeds oily, white, dark gray to black, or

bluish. Fl. and fr. nearly year round in tropical areas, elsewhere in spring and summer.

Germplasm

Opium poppy has been cultivated for several thousand years and many cultivars have resulted, differing in flower color,

opium production, color of seeds, oil content of seeds, and cultural requirements. Many variants are named, the best known

are the "White Poppy" and the "Black Poppy" ("Blue Poppy"), named for color of seed. "White Poppy" has white to

silvery-gray flowers, white seeds, and the capsule is somewhat flattened both at top and bottom. "Black Poppy" usually has

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violet flowers, seeds a slate color, and the capsule is smaller and and more globular. Many new hybrids being produced and

classified according to seed yield, morphine content, and oil content. Hybridizes with P. setigerum and P. bracteatum. P.

ssetigerum DC is one of the allotetraploids of P. somniferum, and is, perhaps, one of the ancestors of the cultivated opium

poppy. Reported from the Mediterranean, Central Asian, and Near Eastern Centers of Diversity, or cvs thereof is reported

to tolerate drought, frost, high pH, heat, limestone, low pH, slope, and virus (2n = 22, 20) (Duke, 1978).

Distribution

Native and cultivated in Mediterranean region east to Iran; now cultivated in many tropical, subtropical, and warm

temperate countries. Presently known to be cultivated for the opium in India, Iran, Turkey, Yugoslavia, Macedonia,

Bulgaria, China, Manchuria, and Asia, and in other parts of Europe and India for the seeds. Cultivated in Japan and Australia

for medicinal purposes.

Ecology

Thrives in rich, well-manured soil, in hot to warm regions. Deep, warm, moderately moist, medium heavy soils, well

cultivated, and limed meet the requirements for poppy growing. Soils with pH neutral or slightly alkaline preferable.

Ranging from Cool Temperate Wet Steppe to Wet through Subtropical Dry to Moist Forest Life Zones, poppy is reported to

tolerate annual precipitation of 3.1 to 17.3 dm (mean of 34 cases = 16.0), annual temperature of 5.6 to 23.5C (mean of 34

cases = 10.9), and pH of 4.9 to 8.2 (mean of 25 cases = 6.5). It does poorly in the humid tropics.

Cultivation

Propagated from seed. Seeds germinate best at 15C and are less sensitive to temperature than most poppy species. Seed

sown in shallow furrows, at rate of 46 kg/ha. In some areas poppy seed, mixed with sand, is often broadcast over tilled

fields in early autumn at rate of about 0.5 kg/ha, as in Asia Minor. Then fields are weeded in the spring when the poppy has

grown to about 15 cm tall, and plants are thinned then to stand about 60 cm apart. They flower in April and May and the

capsules are ripe in June to July. Optimum yields are obtained when plants are spaced 10 cm between plants and rows 32

cm apart, thus allowing space for mechanical cultivation. Yields of seeds are slightly higher when plants are spaced 30 cm

apart than when 40 cm apart. Thinning and spacing do not affect the oil content of the seeds. Fertile soil is essential for

good growth and land should be fertilized accordingly.

Harvesting

While nearly all parts of the poppy plant contain a white milky juice or latex, the unripe capsules, containing the juice in

abundance, are used for extraction of morphine and other alkaloids. Minor alkaloids are extracted from the straw also. The

capsule wall is traversed by a network of branching and anastomosing lactiferous vessels which contain the latex. In the

green unripe capsule, the latex is richest in morphine; but as they turn yellow and ripen, the morphine content diminishesand the codeine and narcotine contents increase. Shortly after the petals and stamens fall, usually in the late afternoon or

early morning while the temperature is low, transverse oblique or v entral incisions are made in the unripe capsules with a

single-bladed knife having one saw edge or a several-bladed knife, care being taken not to cut through the inner wall of the

capsule lest valuable juice be lost and the seeds injured. The white juice exudes and soon hardens in the outside wall of

the capsule into brownish masses which are scraped off the following day on a wooden tray. The scrapings are later

transferred to earthen vessels or larger trays or dumped on the ground, where the opium is kneaded by hand to a uniform

consistency. It is then shaped into balls, cakes, or sticks, ready for marketing. Crude opium from the 3 or 4 lancings should

be separated for medicinal use since it contains a higher percentage of morphine. Codeine content in poppy shows

significant variation as a result of weather and heredity. Morphine content is highest during period 1030 days after

flowering.

Yields and EconomicsYields of opium are obout 0.4 to 0.9% with a dry morphine output equaling about 2 kg/ha. From field-harvested opium this

would yield the standing biomass as residue. In Tasmania with 0 kg N and 0 kg P, Laughlin (1978) reported capsule yields of

1,197 kg/ha, seed yields of 1,712, and total plant yields of 7,948; with 0 P and 100 N, there were 1,220 kg capsule, 1,645 kg

seed, and 8,273 kg total plant; with 0 N and 100 P, there were 1,286 kg capsules, 1,829 kg seed, and 8,785 kg total plant;

while with 100 kg N and 100 kg P/ha, there were 1,452 kg capsule, 1,760 kg seed, and 9,910 kg/ha total plant. German

studies [in Hortic. Abs. 01489 (049)] reported seed yields of 7501,200 kg/ha and empty pod yields as 5801,000 kg/ha. In his

review, Loof (1966) suggests that averag seed yields of 1,2001,800 kg/ha would be realistic under European conditions

with non-lodging cvs and adequate moisture. Experimental yields have attained 3,000 kg/ha (Loof, 1966). Duke (1973)

reports that in Scandinavia poppies yield 580 kg/ha crude fat and 300 kg crude protein. Although it is usually illegal to

cultivate opium poppy for the opium as such, the need for morphine and other alkaloids for medicinal purposes has

prompted many nations to grow opium poppy under controlled conditions. As many as 108 nations are known to be growingthe poppy for one purpose or more. India produces huge quantities of poppy seed, exporting as much as 46,000 T annually.

The United States imported 2,842.1 MT of poppy seed worth $2,336,200 in 1981, 804.9 MT from Australia worth $616,500,

6.8 MT from India worth $9,500, 16.0 MT from Mexico worth $12,100, 847.1 MT from the Netherlands worth $763,800, 15.0

MT from Poland worth $13,900, 223.0 MT from Romania worth $206,200, 19.6 MT from Singapore worth $14,600, 850.6 MT

from Turkey worth $656,000, and 59.1 MT from Yugoslavia worth $43,600. On August 2, 1982, (Chemical Marketing Reporter)

posted prices were ca $1.72/kg for Dutch material and $1.58/kg for Turkish seed.

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Energy

With the seeds running 4550% oil, we can visualize oil yields of perhaps 1,500 kg/ha, with an edible 1,500 kg oil cake, and

perhaps another 28,000 kg straw for fueling processing.

Biotic Factors

Although some self-pollination occurs before the flowers open cross-pollination by insects also occurs. Some of the fungi

attacking opium poppy include the following species: Alternaria brassicae var. somniferi, Cladosporium herbarum,

Erysiphe polygoni, Fusarium scirpi var. caudatum, Heterosporium echinulatum, Macrosporium papaveris, M. bresdolae,

Mucor mucedo, Ophiobolus sativus, Oidium erysiphoides, Peronospora arborescens, P. papaveracea, Rhizoctonia solani,

Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Trichothecium roseum. Plants are also attacked by the bacteria Bacillus (Erwinia) papaveri,

causing bacterial blight, and Xanthomonas papavericola. The following nematodes have been isolated from the opium

poppy: Ditylenchus dipsaci, Longidorus maximus, Meloidogyne sp., Pratylenchus crenatus, P. penetrans, and P. pratensis.

Insect pests include: Aphis papaveris, Ceutorhynchus abbreviatus, C. albovittatus, C. maculaalba, Cynips minor,

Dasynevra papaveris, C. callida, Lestodiplosis callida, Mamestra brassicae, Phytomiza albiceps, Sciophila wahlbomiana,

and Stenocarus fuliginosus.

References

Duke, J.A. 1973. Utilization of Papaver. Econ. Bot. 27(4):390391.

Duke, J.A. 1978. The quest for tolerant germplasm. p. 161. In: ASA Special Symposium 32, Crop tolerance to suboptimal

land conditions. Am. Soc. Agron. Madison, WI.

Duke, J.A. 1983c. Amerindian medicinal plants. Typescript.Hartwell, J.L. 19671971. Plants used against cancer. A survey. Lloydia 3034.

Laughlin, J.C. 1978. The effect of band placed nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer on the yield of poppies (Papaver

somniferum L.) grown in Krasnozem soil. Acta Hort. 73:165169.

Loof, B. 1966. Poppy cultivation (Review article). Field Crop Abstracts 19(1):15.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/papaver_somniferum.html

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