OPPIO POPPY ( Papaver somniferum ) belongs to the Papaver family; is an annual herbaceous plant cultivated in its varieties, album (the most valuable), nigrum and setigerum, to obtain opium bread.
Opium bread is a semi-solid mass of brownish-black color and with a very aromatic smell; it is nothing more than the latex collected after being made to exude from the immature capsule and then left to dry and oxidize in the air; when stirred continuously it loses water, it takes on a color from white - greyish to brown - blackish and a more solid consistency. It is obtained by exuding from the incision of immature capsules, collected by scraping, placed in containers, then stirred and dried; in this way, the water that contains evaporates, and the opium bread oxidizes in the air, leading to a change in color. This type of cultivation and method of obtaining legalized only in some countries, in other cases is obviously forbidden, and in others, such as in Egypt, the poppy is grown to obtain active alkaloid principles, but the capsules are not cut, but collected ripe and dried; they are then extracted with solvents, thus making liquid-liquid extractions by displacement.
The active principles of the poppy have a predominantly pharmaceutical expression, but in some cases they are also associated with products for free sale, such as in herbalists that market products based on codeine, an antitussive, a bechico, with spasmolytic activities at the bronchial level, and - at certain doses - it is also an anti-asthmatic. Then there are the more specifically pharmaceutical active principles, such as morphine (analgesic par excellence), and papaverine (the spasmolytic par excellence). Opium, and opium poppy, may also have a herbal use, but with a homeopathic expression.
