Alpine Poppy

Alpine Poppy

　　Also known as Mountain Poppy or Mountain Wild Opium. A perennial herbaceous plant of the Papaveraceae family. Basal leaves have long petioles covered with coarse hairs. It has two sepals that fall off early. Blooms in summer with large flowers clustered at the tips of branches. The four petals are yellow and broadly obovate; fruits ripen from July to August, producing numerous small seeds. Alpine poppies thrive in frozen, thick-soil layers at elevations between 1,800 and 2,690 meters, surviving in cold and windy climates. The dried latex from the seed capsule is known as opium, containing morphine and other alkaloids; the seed pod is also used medicinally, referred to as “poppy capsule,” with a neutral nature and sour-astringent taste. It has analgesic, antitussive, and anti-putrefaction properties.