BetaThis search tool is in development. Find out more.
Find thousands of books, manuscripts, visual materials and unpublished archives from our collections, many of them with free online access.
Search for free, downloadable images taken from our library and museum collections, including paintings, illustrations, photos and more.
Digital Images
Papaver somniferum (Opium poppy)
- Sue Snell
Available online
License
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
You can use this work for any purpose, including commercial uses, without restriction under copyright law. You should also provide attribution to the original work, source and licence.
Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) terms and conditions https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Credit: Papaver somniferum (Opium poppy).
Credit: Sue Snell.
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Selected images from this work
About this work
Description
As in N0021526. Shows wider group of above close-up. Plant with wavy toothed greyish-green leaves and tall stems bearing purple flowers with four petals forming a shallow cup. The central capsule swells to a fleshy-ridged oval with a flat top. Seeds ripen within this capsule. Opium is extracted from the latex of the unripe seed pods and is prepared by drying the latex. Other simple extracts from the whole plant
include morphine, codeine, thebaine, heroin and papaverine. Ripe seeds are inocuous and widely used in baking and confectionary.
Contributors
Permanent link
We’re improving the information on this page. Find out more.