2OO 



PAPAVERACE^ 



1 80. OPIUM. OPIUM 

 OPIUM 



The concrete milky exudation obtained by incising the unripe capsules of Papa'ver 

 somnif'erum Linne', and its variety, album, DeCandolle. Containing not 

 less than 9.5 per cent, of anhydrous Morphine. 



BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS. Leaves large, sessile, wavy, cut, or toothed; 

 flowers large and terminal, drooping before expansion; petals 4, large, roundish, 

 white or purplish with a darker colored spot near the claws; stigmas 4 to 20, 



FIG. 103. Papaver Somniferum Flowering branch and fruit. 



radiating, sessile upon the disk, which covers the ovary. Capsule obovate, 

 i -celled; placenta extended so as to almost divide the cavity into several 

 cells; dehiscence by small chinks or pores beneath the crown formed-by the 

 radiating stigmas; seeds numerous, reniform. 



SOURCE. Western Asia; cultivated in the elevated plains of India, -in 

 Egypt, Persia, Asia Minor, and in some parts of Europe. Varieties: 

 (i) Smyrna, Levant, Turkey, or Constantinople; opium generally in 

 flattish masses the most abundant in the market, to which descrip- 



