Bocconia microcarpa

Studies of the isolation and the constitution of alkaloids of the Papaveraceae family have led to the investigation of the effect of various types of drying on the quantity of alkaloids in the leaves of Macleaya (Bocconia) microcarpa (52), the stability of some Papaver alkaloids (in different solvents) to sunlight (294), the accumulation of alkaloids in the latex of the Papaveraceae (243), the site of origin of the alkaloids in the studied plants (295, 296), the different geographical zones (297, 298), the time after flowering (299), and the seasonal variations in the content of the individual groups of alkaloids, particularly in P. somniferum (300). 

Reports have appeared on t.l.c. methods of detection of benzophenanthridine alkaloids in Bocconia frutescens, Macleaya microcarpa, and M. cordata and in Fumaria capreolata. A colorimetric method of determining the alkaloids in B. cordata has been described. ... 

The species of the genus Macleaya, namely M. cordata and M. micro-carpa, perennial herbs from the Far East, are used in Russia as a source of the natural mixture of sanguinarine and chelerythrine (called sanguiritrine), that has been introduced into medicine for the treatment of various diseases. The content of QBA in the leaves ofM microcarpa has been found to be unusually high, up to 1.97% [66], The QBA contents in M. microcarpa and M. cordata cultivated in central Europe [37,38] are considerably lower. Similar low yields have been found by Bulgarian, Japanese, and Russian authors [5,6], Chelirubine, chelilutine, and macarpine have also been isolated from Macleaya species [37,38], The alkaloid bocconine [35], isolated from M. cordata (invalid synonym Bocconia cordata Willd.) in 1965, is identical to chelirubine [34], described for the first time in 1954 [30],... 

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