# Afim ,अफीम,Opium Poppy (Papaver somniferum )

Botanical Classification :

Botanical name:  Papaver somniferum 

Family:   Papaveraceae (poppy family) 

 Genus:   Papaver

 Species: P. somniferum
Comman name: Opium Poppy, Afim अफ़ म (Hindi) 

Part Used:Seeds,Flowers,Capsules

 Introduction:

Poppy 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. 

plant:
The height of plant is 1.2 meters long

Flower:
The plant can have white, pink, red, or purple flowers.

 Seeds:
Seeds range in color from white to a slate shade that is called blue in commercial classifi- cations. 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. The poppy seeds and fixed oil that can be expressed from the seed are not narcotic, because they develop after the capsule has lost the opium-yielding potential. 

Medicinal uses:

 Poppy is one of the most important medicinal plants. Traditionally, the dry opium was considered an astringent, antispasmodic, aphrodisiac, diaphoretic, expectorant, hypnotic, narcotic, and sedative. Poppy has been used against toothaches and coughs. The ability of opium from poppy to serve as an analgesic is well known. Opium and derivatives of opium are used in the pharmaceutical industry as narcotic analgesics, hypnotics, and sedatives. Opium and the drugs derived from opium are addictive and can have toxicological effects.