An Indexed Bibliography. The Scientific Literature on Selected Herbs, and Aromatic and Medicinal Plants of the Temperate Zone. Poppy, Papaver somniferum L., is an annual herb native to Southeastern Europe and western Asia. Also known as opium poppy, the species is cultivated extensively in many countries, including Iran, Turkey, Holland, Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, India, Canada, and many Asian and Central and South American countries. Reaching a height of 1.2 meters, the erect plant can have white, pink, red, or purple flowers.
Seeds range in color from white to a slate shade that is called blue in commercial classifications.
The plants grow best in rich, moist soil and tend to be frost sensitive. A latex containing several important alkaloids is obtained from immature seed capsules one to three weeks after flowering. Incisions are made in the walls of the green seed pods, and the milky exudation is collected and dried. Opium and the isoquinoline alkaloids morphine, codeine, noscapine, papaverine, and thebaine are isolated from the dried material. Poppy seeds are used as a condiment with baked goods and pastries for their nutty odor and flavor.