Papaver seeds

Papaver is the generic name under which a large number of species of the same gender of plants are classified. Most of them are just beautiful samples of nature, while Papaver somniferum is the most studied and notorious, since researches synthesized its primary compounds Morphine, and Codeine. Medicinal use of opium comes from ancient times. Registry starts from the ancient Sumerians (4000 B.C.). Describing the poppy, along with images indicating euphoria effects. The properties of the opium poppy have been known since at least 3400 B.C., when the Sumerians called it the ”'flower of joy”.

The Sumerians transferred the knowledge about opium to the Assyrians. The harvest systems then passed from the Assyrians to the Babylonians and later onto the Egyptians. Egyptians began growing opium thebaicum, “The White Lotus”; the opium trade flourishes in Egypt during the reign of Thutmose IV, Akhenaton and King Tutankhamen. 330 B.C.

Alexander the Great introduces opium to the people in Persia and India. The trade route expands to the Phoenicians and Minoans who move it along Greece, Carthage, and Europe. By 300 B.C., opium was being used by Arabs, Greeks, and Romans as a sedative and soporific. In 1753, Linnaeus, the father of botany, first classifies the poppy, Papaver somniferum-- 'sleep-inducing', in his book Genera Plantarum.

The most important of the opium poppy's constituents, Morphine, was isolated in 1803 by German pharmacist named Serturner. It was the first plant alkaloid ever isolated, and its discovery set off a blaze of research that drastically changed medicine forever. Within half a century, dozens of alkaloids, such as atropine, caffeine, cocaine, and quinine, had been isolated from other plants and were being used in precisely measured dosages for the first time.

Raw opium contains approximately 25 different alkaloids by weight, depending on the variety. The chief alkaloids are Morphine (4-21%), Codeine (0.8-2.5%), Thebaine (0.5-2%), Papaverine (0.5-2.5%), Noscapine (4-8%)and Meconic Acid (3-5%). In addition to several other alkaloids by weight, Narceine (0.1-0.5%), Protopine, Laudanine (0.005%), Laudanosine (0.0008%), Codamine (0.003% Turkish), Cryptopine (0.003-0.03%), Lanthopine, Meconidine. Opium has been used as a drug for centuries, and the abuse of this substance has lead to its prohibition in many countries. However the free trade of Papaver seeds is globally legal. Papaver seeds do not contain any of these alkaloids; they are rich in fiber and oils and are used in cooking in countries like India, Turkey, Iran, Israel, Europe and Japan.

Law definitions:
'Opium poppy' means the plant of the species Papaver somniferum Linnaeus, except the seeds of the plant.
"Poppy straw" means all parts, except the seeds, of the opium poppy, after mowing.

'Linnaeus' is the father of botany who first classified Papaver somniferum. 'Linnaeus' means the variety of Papaver somniferum that produces Morphine. 'Non-Linnaeus' means a variety of Papaver, which does not produce Morphine. Papaver somniferum SEEDS are legal everywhere in the United States. Papaver seeds can be bought online on specialized herbal stores, for ornamental growth of the plants, for seed collection for culinary purposes and for medical reasons. These plants are harvested in tropical, subtropical and tempered areas in mostly all Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe, America and Australia.