Oriental Poppy

[The_simpsons]

Found some oriental poppies (Papaver orientale) in my garden, i wonder, how is their alkaloid content compared to the opium poppy? Do they still contain morphine and codeine in lesser amounts or do they lack of it completely?

 

No worries, im not gonna make opium, i have botanical interests and plants secondary metabolites as means of defence interest me.

[aj47]

AFAIK Papaver orientale do not contain any codeine or morphine, at least not in any significant amounts. They do contain the alkaloid thebaine though which is used as the starting product for etorphine which I have heard is something like 10,000 times as strong as morphine and is used to take out large game such as elephants. So I guess etorphine would be an excellent means of defense.