Article Nº 2746 Plant Vol. III · p. 79
Poppies
Original title: Papoulas
Poppies found in Madeira, chiefly the corn poppy and the opium poppy, and their medicinal uses; opium has never been extracted on the island.
The commonest species in Madeira are Papaver rhoeas and P. somniferum, the latter with white flowers and the former with red. By crushing the capsules of P. somniferum or making shallow incisions in them, a juice known as opium is obtained, which is one of the most precious remedies in medicine. Morphine is the most active principle of opium. The capsules of the white poppy are used in decoction as an anodyne; the petals of the red poppy are sedative, pectoral and sudorific. The extraction of opium has never been attempted in Madeira.
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