Poppy head

Wiiest and Frey have pointed out that poppy straw has disadvantages in low yield of morphine and in bulkiness, and prefer poppy heads as a primary material. Many samples of capsules from seven countries were examined by them and found to yield from 0-18 to 0-9 per cent, of morphine, and they conclude that it should be possible to get ripe, dry capsules containing on the average 0-3 to 0-5 per cent, of morphine. Their paper includes a description of a process of analysis, which was found speedy and accurate. 

Mohn, m. poppy, -gewachse, n.pl. (Bot.) Pa-paveraceae. -kapsel, /., -kopf, m. poppy capsule, poppy head. -81, n. poppy-seed oil. molmrot, a. poppy-red. 

Mohn-saft, OT. poppy juice, opium, -samen, ot. poppyseed, -saure,/. meconic acid, -stoff, m. narcotine, -stroh, n. lit., poppy straw (residue from extraction of poppy heads and stems). 

By extraction of poppy-heads or opium with water, precipitation with aqueous Na2C03-solution, washing of the precipitate with ethanol and dissolving in diluted acetic acid. 

Rhoeadine (R = CH3) was isolated for the first time by Hesse (665) in 1865. It has always been considered to be ineffective physiologically as well as poisonous. In children, the sedative and slightly expectorant effect of the syrup prepared from the flowers of P. rhoeas L. (where rhoeadine is the major alkaloid) could not be explained, nor can it be explained why cattle avoid P. rhoeas (666). Hakim (667) observed, after administration of seed oil and extracts from poppy heads of P. rhoeas, an increase in intraocular pressure in rabbits. Lieb and Scherf (372) administered rhoeadine to rabbits and found a significant decrease in intraocular pressure, mydriasis, and a slight stimulation of respiration. For details refer to Section II, N on the benzophenanthri-dine alkaloids. The increase in intraocular pressure is apparently not caused by rhoeadine. Awe (668) observed spasms after administration... 

A young man dependent on Kompot or Polish heroin , a domestic product produced from poppy straw or the juice of poppy heads (P. somniferum) and given intravenously, developed Guillain-Barre syndrome after severe intoxication induced by home-made heroin, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines (11). 

Further comparatively voluminous literature on the detection and identification of narcotine has appeared (68-91) paper chromatography and paper electrophoresis were repeatedly utilized for the detection of narcotine (92-117) as well as for its quantitative determination (65, 80, 84, 118-152) and separation (153-175). Paper chromatography, even in conjunction with electrophoresis, has been advocated for the quantitative separation and estimation of narcotine (116, 176-191). Thin-layer chromatography (154,155,167,192-196) and gas chromatography (197) are more recent techniques. Dry poppy heads with a content of 0.01% narcotine may be utilized for preparative purposes (198-201). 

The classic isolation of narceine from opium has been repeated (249), but its chromatographic separation was recommended (174, 175, 250). The accumulation and distribution of narceine in the poppy during the vegetative period was followed (151, 251, 252) and narceine (mp 170°) was isolated in a yield of 0.02% from dry poppy heads (253). Its salt with theophyllineacetic acid may find practical application (254) as a pharmaceutical. 

Fig. 1-1 Frieze from the palace of Assyrian king Sargon II, in Khorsabad (in modern-day Iraq), depicting two priests. Note the poppy heads carried by the priest on the right. 8th centu BC. Musee du Louvre, Paris, Antiquites orientales. Photograph Service de documentation photographique de la Reunion des Musses Nationaux, Chateau de Versailles. (Reprinted from Lydia Mez-Mangold, A H/story o/Drugs, F. Hoffmann-La Roche. Co., Ltd, Basle, Switzerland, 1971, with permission).

Poppy Capsules, Poppy heads. Fully grown, dried capsules of Papover somntferum L., Papovemceae. Habit. Europe, Asia. Constit. Capsules 0.15-0.5% morphine and small amounts of other opium alkaloids. Seed Fixed oil (poppy oil), albuminoids. 

The quantity of thebaine in P. bracteatum depends on the period of ripening and on the part of the plant. The largest quantity was found in the roots (0.5-1.0%/weight of dry drug) and in the poppy heads (0.23-1.40%) (849). Bohm studied the content of morphinane alkaloids (thebaine, oripavine, and codeine/morphine) in hybrids obtained by hybridization between P. somniferum, P. bracteatum, P. orientale, and P. pseudoorientale and their dependence upon the genetic milieu (847). 

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