On 11th November 1918, the “War to end all wars” ended after four bloody years. This weekend, Commonwealth countries commemorate that war and wars that followed, with many people wearing a red poppy in remembrance This week’s leaf title is inspired by John McCrae’s 1915 poem (cited below).
The poppy (Papaver somniferum) is the source of the important drug morphine, which I wrote about previously in Leaf 16 (https://lnkd.in/dBP2Eb-w),also mentioning codeine (cough suppressant) and papaverine (non-narcoticvasodilator, antispasmodic).
Plants of the Papaver genus produce more than 170 different alkaloids. Besides those mentioned previously, other examples are thebaine (a convulsive), buprenorphine (painrelief and treatment of opiate abuse), oxymorphone (relief of severe pain), oxycodone(prolonged moderate pain relief), oriavine (toxic, used as precursor for synthetic opioids), salutaridine (possibly active against hepatitis B virus)and isorhoeadine (predicted to inhibit SARS-Cov2/COVID-19, Vivek-Ananth et al, 2022).
Butnariu et al (2022) have reviewed contemporary and traditional uses of Papaver plant species, their alkaloids and non-alkaloid molecules, citing numerous publications about their antioxidant, antimicrobial, analgesic, anticancer, antidiabetic and other bioactivities. The molecular profiles vary between different Papaver species and sometimeseven within species, affected by both genetics, plant organs Papaver selected and environmental factors such as growth latitude. These differences make specificplants and plant organs suitable for treatment of particular disorders.
Besides medicinal uses, poppies are of course grown for food (as in poppyseed cakes), the mainproducers being Czechia and Turkey.
As for the millions of poppies currently been worn and displayed for Remembrance Day, those are mostly made of paper and plastic. In closing, let me mention that every spring, the Western Negev (the part of Israel closest to Gaza) turns red with anemone flowers that look rather like poppies (same botanical order, different family).I hope that by next spring we can enjoy the flowers in peace.
Further reading/listening
🌺 John McCrae (1915) “In Flanders Fields”, https://poets.org/poem/flanders-fields. Leonard Cohen recitation - https://youtu.be/cKoJvHcMLfc
🌺 Butnariu M et al (2022). Papaver Plants: Current Insights on Phytochemical and Nutritional Composition Along with Biotechnological Applications. Oxid Med Cell Longev. 2022, 2041769. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/2041769
🌺 Vivek-Ananth RP, Krishnaswam S, Samal A (2022). Potential phytochemicalinhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 helicase Nsp13: a molecular docking and dynamicsimulation study. Mol divers. 26(1), 429–442. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11030-021-10251-1
