Article Text
Miscellanea
The opium poppy, morphine, and verapamil
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Papaver somniferum, the opium poppy, has been used medicinally for over 5000 years. When the unripe seed capsule is incised a milky fluid runs out and when dried this constitutes opium (Greek opus = juice). This contains three important alkaloids—morphine, codeine, and papaverine. Morphine is unrivalled …