Application
Opium poppy is one of our oldest cultivated plants. It is first mentioned on a cuneiform tablet from around 4.000 BC. It describes the production of medicines from the plant. In Egypt, opium mixtures can be traced back to around 1.800 BC.
The Sumerians called the Opium Poppy the Plant of Joy, and in ancient Greece the plant's seed capsule was a symbol for Morpheus (god of dreams), Thanatos (god of death) and Nyx (goddess of the night). This combined symbolic power for dreams, sleep and death is repeated in numerous images from antiquity. Opium was the most active ingredient in the universal medicine theriac.
The effects of opium are analgesic, sedative and antitussive.
Opium – Poppy grown in Denmark contains only a negligible amount of opium. Developing a higher concentration in the plant's sap requires a significantly warmer climate than the Danish one.
The seeds of Opium – Poppy are not poisonous. They are grown and sold under the name Birkes.
Ingredients
Morphine, noscapine, thebaine, papaverine, codeine.
Papaver somniferum L.
Photo of page in Joachim Burser's herbarium.
