Poppy, Papaver orientale

During the period of growth of the oriental poppy, Papaver orientale, the plant contains appreciable amounts of thebaine, but during late fall, after ripening and dying of the aerial plant, little, if any, of this alkaloid is to be found, but at this time an optically active base, isomeric with thebaine, may be isolated from the root of the poppy. This base, called isothebaine, was first isolated by Gadamer [1-2] as an unidentified phenolic alkaloid and subsequently examined by Klee [3]. It has also been shown to be present in Papaver bracteatum [4],... 

A minor constituent of P. somniferum is the aporphine alkaloid isoboldine (Figure 6.58). Other species of poppy, e.g. Papaver orientale and P. pseudoorientale, are known to synthesize aporphine alkaloids as principal constituents rather than morphinan structures. (Aj-Isoboldinc is readily appreciated to be the product of oxidative coupling of (5)-reticuline, coupling ortho to the phenol group in the tetrahydroisoquinoline, and para to the phenol of the benzyl substituent... 

A review of the cultivation of Papaver somniferum, and of its improvement and its utilization for medical purposes, has been published/ A method for the quantitative estimation of thebaine in P. bracteatum has been described and a study of the thebaine content of several strains of this poppy has been made. The occurrence of oripavine in P. orientale and of salutaridine in P. brac-teatum and P. lasiothrix has been reported. 

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