opium poppy

plant

Also known as: Papaver somniferum

Written and fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Angiosperm
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Papaveraceae
Genus: Papaver

opium poppy, (Papaver somniferum), culturally and pharmacologically important flowering plant native to Turkey. Opium, morphine, codeine, and heroin are all derived from the milky latex found in its unripe seed capsule. It is also grown as a source of poppy seeds, which are edible and nonnarcotic seeds used in bakery products and for seasoning, oil, and birdseed.

The opium poppy has been cultivated for millennia as a source of powerful analgesic compounds, including morphine and codeine, that remain indispensable in modern medicine for the relief of severe pain, cough, and other maladies. At the same time, the plant’s potent alkaloids—and their synthetic and semi-synthetic derivatives—have contributed to widespread addiction and have played a central role in the opioid crisis in the United States and elsewhere, underscoring the plant’s complex and consequential legacy.

Physical description

Poppy seedsEdible poppy seeds from the opium poppy (*Papaver somniferum)*.

The opium poppy is an annual plant and can reach about 1–5 meters (3–16 feet) tall. It has lobed or toothed silver-green foliage and bears blue-purple or white flowers some 13 cm (5 inches) wide. Red-flowered and double and semidouble strains have been developed as garden ornamentals. The numerous small seeds are kidney-shaped and grayish blue to dark blue in color. They are borne in a spherical capsule topped by a disk formed by the stigmas of the flower; the seeds escape from pores beneath the disk when the capsule is shaken by the wind.

Venus's-flytrap. Venus's-flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) one of the best known of the meat-eating plants. Carnivorous plant, Venus flytrap, Venus fly trap

Britannica Quiz

Plants: From Cute to Carnivorous

Opium and its alkaloids

Raw opium, a narcotic drug, is obtained from the plant’s unripe seedpods. It is obtained by slightly incising the seed capsules of the poppy after the plant’s flower petals have fallen. The slit seedpods exude a milky latex that coagulates and changes color, turning into a gumlike brown mass upon exposure to air. This raw opium may be ground into a powder, sold as lumps, cakes, or bricks, or treated further to obtain derivatives such as morphine, codeine, and heroin. Opium and the drugs obtained from it are called opiates. For a more thorough discussion, see opium.

The pharmacologically active principles of opium latex reside in its alkaloids, the most important of which, morphine, constitutes about 10 percent by weight of raw opium. Other active alkaloids such as papaverine and codeine are present in smaller proportions. Opium alkaloids are of two types, depending on chemical structure and action. Morphine, codeine, and thebaine, which represent one type, act upon the central nervous system and are analgesic, narcotic, and potentially addictive compounds. Papaverine, noscapine (formerly called narcotine), and most of the other opium alkaloids act only to relax involuntary (smooth) muscles.