Plants opium poppy

Analgesic Plants Opium Poppy History and Botany... 

The actions of the naturally occurring materials now known as alkaloids were probably utilized by the early Egyptians and/or Sumarians (1). However, the beginnings of recorded, reproducible isolation from plants of substances with certain composition first took place in the early nineteenth century. Then in close succession, narcotine [128-62-1] (1, now called noscopine, C22H23NOy) (2) and morphine (2, R = H) (3) (both from the opium poppy, Papaver somnijerum E.) were obtained. 

Many alkaloids have pronounced biological properties, and a substantial number of the pharmaceutical agents used today are derived from naturally occurring amines. As a few examples, morphine, an analgesic agent, is obtained from the opium poppy Papaver somnifemm. Cocaine, both an anesthetic and a central nervous system stimulant, is obtained front the coca bush Erythroxylon coca, endemic to upland rain forest areas of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and western Brazil. Reserpine, a tranquilizer and antihypertensive, comes from powdered roots of the semitropical plant Rauwolfia serpentina. Ephedrine, a bronchodilator and decongestant, is obtained front the Chinese plant Ephedra sinica. 

Opioid analgesics are the narcotic analgesics obtained from the opium plant. More than 20 different alkaloids are obtained from the unripe seed of the opium poppy... 

FACCHINI, D., DELUCA, V., Phloem-specific expression of tyrosine dopa decarboxylase genes and the biosynthesis of isoquinoline alkaloids in opium poppy, Plant Cell, 1995, 7, 1811-1821. 

UNTERLINNER, B LENZ, R KUTCHAN, T.M., Molecular cloning and functional heterologous expression of codeinone reductase The penultimate enzyme in morphine biosynthesis in the opium poppy Papaver somniferum, Plant J., 1999,18,465-475. 

Analgesic Plants Opioid Opium poppy, myrrh... 

The opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) is a blue-grey annual plant growing 30 to 150 cm in height (Robbers et al. 1996 Gruenwald et al. 

The opium poppy is one of several plants that have profoundly affected human history. It has provided an unmatched medicine for... 

Morphine Morphine, 4,5-epoxy-17-methymorphin-7-ene-3,6-diol (3.1.19), is the oldest and most weU-known analgesic. It is made from opium— the dried, milky sap of unripe opium poppy bulbs, whose analgesic properties have been known for over 3000 years. This plant also contains a large number of other alkaloids that are subdivided into groups of phenanthrenes and benzyhsoquinoline. However, ways of making synthetic morphine have also been proposed. One of the proposed, exquisite, multi-phase methods of morphine synthesis is described below. 

The opium poppy, or Papaver somniferum, is just one of more than 100 different poppy plant species that grow both in the wild and in cultivated settings around the world. While P. somniferum is one of many different poppies, it is one of only two species that produce morphine (the active ingredient in opium) and the only one actively cultivated to produce the drug. 

From a horticultural standpoint, the opium poppy is quite a beautiful plant. The poppy is a tall, thin plant of about 90-150 centimeters with little surrounding its stem. When in bloom, its four sprouting leaves can be a variety of colors— white, pink, blue, crimson, or any combination of these. These leaves surround the plant s inner pod. The pod has three layers, including an outer wall and inner compartments where its seeds are produced. Typically about the size of a golf ball, the pod contains the plant s two major products the seeds (about 1,000 for every plant), which can be cultivated into new plants, and opium. 

Papaver somniferum—The opium poppy plant it is one of only two species that produce morphine (the active ingredient in opium) and the only one actively cultivated to produce the drug. 

There are several Emopean Neolithic sites where seeds of the opium poppy have been found, with one site in Spain having been dated to 4200 BC. There is evidence that by 3400 BC the Sumerians in Mesopotamia (Iraq) were cultivating the plant, which they called Hul Gil (joy plant). The Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians continued to exploit the plant and a trade was developed in opium to ports in the Mediterranean. Opium was used in religious ritual, medicine and what currently would be called recreational use. 

Papaver somniferum L. Yu Mei Ku (Opium poppy) (whole plant) Berberine, codeine, papaverine, isocorypalmine, laudanine, magnoflorine, meconine, 6-methylocodine, morphine, narcotine, pseudomorphine, rhoeadine, sanguinarine, beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol, thebaine, zanthaline.50 Antitussive, antispasmodic, analgesic, astringent, narcotic, treat chronic enteritis, diarrhea, enterorrhagia, headache, toothache, asthma. 

Which brings us back to the mushrooms, and the topic of the law. In the original writing of the Controlled Substances Act of 1970, our Federal drug law, there are only four plants listed as being "Scheduled Drugs." In Schedule I there was Marijuana (later defined as the plant Cannabis spp.) and Peyote (later defined as the botanical Lophophora williamsii) in Schedule II there was Opium poppy and poppy straw, and Coca leaves. It is generally known that commercial opium comes from the plant Papaver somniferum and that commercial coca comes... 

As with the opium poppy, the hemp plant (cannabis sativa) was also known in ancient times. It probably was first grown in Central Asia and China but soon spread to India and the Middle East. Ancient healers found that the plant could reduce pain, promote relaxation, and stimulate the appetite—all ways of helping a sick person recover. 

Archaeological evidence shows that early civilizations were keenly aware of the medicinal properties of certain plants. In a.d. 78, for example, the Greek physician Dioscorides wrote Materia Medica, a treatise in which he described about 600 plants known to have medicinal properties. Included in this list was the opium poppy, shown in this chapter s opening photograph. Incisions in the seed capsules of this plant yield a milky sap. When air-dried and kneaded, the sap forms a soft material known as opium, which contains opioids, a class of alkaloids known for their pain-killing and tranquilizing effects. The molecule shown is morphine, one of the more abundant and potent opioids. 

Opium has been known and used for 4000 years or more. In recent times, attempts have been made at governmental and international levels to control the cultivation of the opium poppy, but with only limited success. In endeavours to reduce drug problems involving opium-derived materials, especially heroin, where extremely large profits can be made from smuggling relatively small amounts of opium, much pharmaceutical production has been replaced by the processing of the bulkier poppy straw . The entire plant tops are harvested and dried, then extracted for their alkaloid content in the pharmaceutical industry. Poppy straw now accounts for most of the medicinal opium alkaloid production, but there is still... 

The seeds of the opium poppy are sown in October in well-cultivated soil. The seeds germinate in the fall, and the seedlings may be an inch high when snow falls this protects them from freezing. In the spring, when the plants have attained the height of 6 in., the fields are cultivated and the plants thinned to stand about 2 ft apart. The poppy blossoms in April or May, and the capsules mature in June or July. Each plant bears from five to eight capsules. 

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