opium

opium /opi·um/ (o´pe-um) [L.] air-dried milky exudation from incised unripe capsules of Papaver somniferum or its variety album, containing some 20 alkaloids, the more important being morphine, codeine, and thebaine; the alkaloids are used for their narcotic and analgesic effect. Because it is highly addictive, opium production is restricted and cultivation of the plants from which it is obtained is prohibited by most nations under an international agreement.

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o·pi·um (p-m)

n.

A bitter, yellowish-brown, strongly addictive narcotic drug prepared from the dried juice of unripe pods of the opium poppy and containing alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and papaverine. Also called meconium.

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opium (ō´pēm),

n the actual juice of the poppy,
Papaver somniferum. It contains morphine, codeine, nicotine, narceine, and many other alkaloids.

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opium

the air-dried milky exudation from unripe capsules of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum or its variety P. somniferum album. Opium contains some 25 alkaloids, the most important being morphine (from which heroin is derived), narcotine, codeine, papaverine, thebaine and narceine; the alkaloids are used for their narcotic and analgesic effect. It is poisonous in large doses. Because it is highly addictive, opium production and cultivation of opium poppies is prohibited by most nations by international agreement, and its sale or possession for other than medical or veterinary uses is strictly prohibited by law.

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camphorated tincture of opium

see paregoric.

opium poppy

see papaversomniferum.