Plant characteristics of opium

Opium is a biennial plant of Papaveraceae 1 or 2 years. Gundam 1- 1.5m, flowering in summer, red, purple or white. Capsule is spherical or oval. The seeds are small and numerous. Originated in Europe. Cut the immature fruit of poppy with a sharp knife, scrape it off after the flowing slurry solidifies slightly, and dry it in the shade to become raw opium. Opium contains two main alkaloids: benzyl isoquinoline and phenanthrene. The former is mainly papaverine; The latter includes morphine, codeine and thebaine, accounting for about 10% of impure opium. Most of the pharmacological effects of opium are caused by its main component morphine.

Opium is a primary drug, and it is either black sea or brown because of its origin. It has a strong smell, ammonia or old urine, which is disgusting. Taste, generally after cooking and fermentation into cooked opium for human consumption, made into strips or cakes. At this time, it is brown or golden yellow, and it will have a sweet smell when smoked. Poppy, regarded by archaeologists as a detached plant symbolizing strength, was accidentally discovered in the middle reaches of the mountains on the east coast of the Mediterranean in Neolithic age. Poppy cultivation began in Asia Minor and spread in this ancient world for a long time. Opium has been extracted from poppy plants for more than 6000 years. Opium, the primary product of poppy, has 28 genera and more than 250 species, mainly growing in temperate and subtropical regions of almost the whole northern hemisphere, and is almost the birthplace of all human civilizations.

There are two kinds of opium: Papaver poppy, which is Greek, meaning poppy, and SOMNIFERUM, which is Latin, meaning dreaming or hypnosis, is traditionally planted in the Middle East or Asia to produce opium.

The other is poppy NIDRUM, which is planted in Europe and used to produce some alkaloids of opium in recent years.