Subject: Question about opium poppy (papaver somniforem)

From: [email-masked] (Abe Klagsbrun)
Date: Sun, 19 May 1996 08:57:18 GMT

Does anyone out there know about differences between different varieties of
papaver somniferum (opium poppy)?

I've discovered that there are several different subtypes (regarding
appearance) within this family, although they don't seem to be
scientifically named differently.

Specifically, I'm curious to know whether any one subtype produces larger
amounts of latex (sap) and/or higher concentrations of opium alkaloid.

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From: [email-masked](Michael L Roginsky )
Date: 20 May 1996 20:40:51 GMT

In <[email-masked]> [email-masked] (Abe
>amounts of latex (sap) and/or higher concentrations of opium alkaloid.

AFAIK only the CA poppy is free of the alkaloyd. I imagine the North
African and Asian species yeld the most opium. Email your question c/o
[email-masked]........Julius is an expert, on leave until June
3rd or so........Micro, alive and not a microbe!

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From: [email-masked] (Una Smith)
Date: 22 May 1996 00:26:19 GMT

Michael L Roginsky  <[email-masked]> wrote:

>AFAIK only the CA poppy is free of the alkaloyd.

Sorry, no.

The California poppy does indeed have alkaloids.  But they are not
of much interest to humans.

>I imagine the North African and Asian species yeld the most opium.

Sorry, no again.

Only one species is cultivated for opium production:  Papaver
somniferum, the opium poppy.  Although the origin of this species
is widely debated, it is now cultivated throughout the world.  The
best opium is said to come from SE Asia, but that's an economic or
perhaps agricultural issue, not a botanical one.

Perhaps the main reason why a species of the genus Papaver was put
into cultivation in prehistoric times is that the fruits tend to be
large and without sharp spines.  That is, they're easy to harvest.

The alkaloids (note the plural) found in opium fall into several
categories, only some of which have desirable effects when consumed
by humans.  Some of the undesirable alkaloids can be deadly.  The
trick to producing potent, clean opium is in breeding opium poppies
that yield more of the desirable alkaloids and less of the nasty
ones.

A search on the keyword "opium" in Yale's online library catalog
yielded 349 titles, including:

Kapoor, L. D. (1995)  Opium poppy : botany, chemistry, and pharmacology.
	New York:  Food Products Press.

Merlin, Mark David (1983)  On the trail of the ancient opium poppy 
 	Rutherford:  Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.  Reprinted
 	in 1984 by Associated University Presses (London).                     

Here's to food for thought...

	Una Smith
	Department of Biology
	Yale University