_Fructus Papaveris_; _Poppy Capsules_, _Poppy Heads_; F. _Capsules ou
Têtes de Pavot_; G. _Mohnkapseln_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Papaver somniferum_ L. Independently of the
garden-forms of this universally known annual plant, we may, following
Boissier,[178] distinguish three principal varieties, viz.:—
α. _setigerum_ (_P. setigerum_ DC), occurring in the Peloponnesus,
Cyprus, Corsica and the islands of Hières, the truly wild form of the
plant with acutely toothed leaves, the lobes sharp-pointed, and each
terminating in a bristle. The leaves, peduncles, and sepals are covered
with scattered bristly hairs, and the stigmata are 7 or 8 in number.
β. _glabrum_—Capsule subglobular, stigmata 10 to 12. Chiefly cultivated
in Asia Minor and Egypt.
γ. _album_ (_P. officinale_ Gmelin)—has the capsule more or less
egg-shaped and devoid of apertures. It is cultivated in Persia.
Besides the differences indicated above, the petals vary from white
to red or violet, with usually a dark purplish spot at the base of
each.[179] The seeds also vary from white to slate-coloured.
=History=—The poppy has been known from a remote period throughout the
eastern countries of the Mediterranean, Asia Minor, and Central Asia,
in all which regions its cultivation is of very ancient date.[180]
Syrup of poppies, a medicine still in daily use, is recommended as a
sedative in catarrh and cough in the writings of the younger Mesue
(_ob._ A.D. 1015) who studied at Bagdad, and subsequently resided at
Cairo as physician to the Caliph of Egypt. Their medicinal use seems to
have reached Europe at an early period, for the Welsh “Physicians of
Myddvai” in the 13th century already stated:[181] “Poppy heads bruised
in wine will induce a man to sleep soundly.” They even prepared pills
with the juice of poppy, which they called _opium_. In the _Ricettario
Fiorentino_ (see Appendix R) a formula is given for the syrup as
_Syroppo di Papaveri semplici di Mesue_; in the first pharmacopœia of
the London College (1618), the medicine is prescribed as _Syrupus de
Meconio Mesuæ_.
[178] _Flora Orientalis_, i. (1867) 116.
[179] English growers prefer a _white-flowered_ poppy.
[180] For further particulars consult Ritter, _Erdkunde von Asien_, vi.
(1843) 773, etc.; Unger, _Botanische Streifzüge auf dem Gebiete der
Culturgeschichte_, ii. (1857) 46.
[181] _Meddygon Myddfai_, Llandovery, 1861, 50. 216. 400.
=Description=—The fruit is formed by the union of 8 to 20 carpels, the
edges of which are turned inwards and project like partitions towards
the interior, yet without reaching the centre, so that the fruit is
really one-celled. In the unripe fruit, the sutures of the carpels are
distinctly visible externally as shallow longitudinal stripes.
The fruit is crowned with a circular disc, deeply cut into angular
ridge-like stigmas in number equal to the carpels, projecting in a
stellate manner with short obtuse lobes. Each carpel opens immediately
below the disc by a pore, out of which the seeds may be shaken; but
in some varieties of poppy the carpel presents no aperture even when
fully ripe. The fruit is globular, sometimes flattened below, or it is
ovoid; it is contracted beneath into a sort of neck immediately above
a tumid ring at its point of attachment with the stalk. Grown in rich
moist ground in England, it often attains a diameter of three inches,
which is twice that of the capsules of the opium poppy of Asia Minor or
India. While growing it is of a pale glaucous green, but at maturity
becomes yellowish-brown, often marked with black spots. The outer wall
of the pericarp is smooth and hard; the rest is of a loose texture, and
while green exudes on the slightest puncture an abundance of bitter
milky juice. The interior surface of the pericarp is rugose, and
minutely and beautifully striated transversely. From its sutures spring
thin and brittle placentæ directed towards the centre and bearing on
their perpendicular faces and edges a vast number of minute reniform
seeds.
The unripe fruit has a narcotic odour which is destroyed by drying; and
its bitter taste is but partially retained.
=Microscopic Structure=—The outer layer consists of a thin cuticle
exhibiting a large number of stomata; the epidermis is formed of a
row of small thick-walled cells. Fragments of these two layers, which
on the whole exhibit no striking peculiarity, are always found in the
residue of opium after it has been exhausted by water.
The most interesting part of the constituent tissues of the fruit
is the system of laticiferous vessels, which is of an extremely
complicated nature inasmuch as it is composed of various kinds of cells
intimately interlaced so as to form considerable bundles.[182] The
cells containing the milky juice are larger but not so much branched as
in many other plants.
[182] For particulars see _Trécul, Ann. des Sciences Nat._ v. (1866)
49; also Flückiger, _Grundlagen der Pharmaceutischen Waarenkunde_,
1873. 45.
=Chemical Composition=—The analyses of poppy heads present discrepant
results with regard to morphine. Merck and Winckler detected it in the
ripe fruit to the extent of 2 per cent., and it has also been found by
Groves (1854) and by Deschamps d’Avallon (1864). Other chemists have
been unable to find it.
In recent pharmacopœias poppy heads are directed to be taken previous
to complete maturity, and both Meurein and Aubergier have shown that
in this state they are richer in morphine than when more advanced.
Deschamps d’Avallon found them sometimes to contain narcotine. He also
obtained mucilage perceptible by neutral acetate of lead, ammonium
salts, meconic, tartaric, and citric acid, the ordinary mineral
acids, wax, and lastly two new crystalline bodies, _Papaverin_, and
_Papaverosine_. The former is not identical with Merck’s alkaloid of
the same name; although nitrogenous and bitter, it has an acid reaction
(?), yet does not combine with bases. It yields a blue precipitate with
a solution of iodine in iodide of potassium.
Papaverosine on the other hand is a base to which sulphuric acid
imparts a violet colour, changing to dark yellowish-red on addition of
nitric acid.
In ripe poppy heads, Hesse (1866) found _Rhœadine_. Groves in 1854
somewhat doubtfully announced the presence of _Codeine_. Fricker[183]
stated to have obtained from the capsules 0·10 per cent. of alkaloid,
and Krause[184] was able to prove the presence of traces of morphine,
narcotine, and meconic acid. Ripe poppy capsules (seeds removed) dried
at 100° C. afforded us 14·28 per cent. of ash, consisting chiefly
of alkaline chlorides and sulphates, with but a small quantity of
phosphate.
=Production=—Poppies are grown for medicinal uses in many parts of
England, mostly on a small scale. The large and fine fruits (poppy
heads) are usually sold entire; the smaller and less slightly are
broken and the seeds having been removed are supplied to the druggist
for pharmaceutical preparations. The directions of the pharmacopœia as
to the fruit being gathered when “nearly ripe” does not appear to be
much regarded.
=Uses=—In the form of syrup and extract, poppy heads are in common
use as a sedative. A hot decoction is often externally applied as an
anodyne.
In upper India an intoxicating liquor is prepared by heating the
capsules of the poppy with jagghery and water.[185]
[183] Dragendorff’s _Jahresbericht_, 1874. 148.
[184] _Archiv der Pharm._ 204 (1874) 507.
[185] _Catal. Ind. Departm. Internat. Exhibition._ 1862. No. 742.