Blood-root or red puccoon (Sanguinaria canadensis) is a North American plant of the Sanguinariagenus, Poppy family Papaveraceae. It is a low, smooth, bluish-green perennial plant found in rich woods of the eastern USA. The flowers are showy, white or pinkish in colour and about five centimetres wide borne singularly on stalks some twenty centimetres long. It was used by North American Indians to provide red paint derived from the root. Today sanguinarine, used in medicine, is derived from its root. Research Blood-root
Celandine is the name of two British flowers. Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus) belongs to the poppy family (Papaveraceae). It is an erect branched herb from thirty to fifty centimetres tall with much-divided leaves and yellow flowers succeeded by narrow, thin pods. Greater celandine grows on wasteland and in hedgerows.
Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus Ficaria) also known as swallowwort, pilewort etc is a small low-growing perennialherb of the Buttercup family with club-shaped tubers, branched ascending stems, smooth, heart-shaped leaves which are sheathed at the base and bright yellow flowers, each with three sepals and between eight and twelve petals, borne on a stout stalk from the leaf axils. It was thought to be a cure for piles. Research Celandine
Common fumitory (Fumaria officinalis) is an annual herb of the family Papaveraceae with a weak, low-branching, leafy stem and stalked, alternate, grey-green leaves which are several times pinnately divided into flattened lanceolate segments. The flowers are arranged in long racemes and have pink petals with red tips, the upper petal being spurred. The fruit is a rough achene. Research Common Fumitory
The common poppy (Papaver rhoeas) or red poppy or corn poppy is an annual herb of the family Papaveraceae with a slender, erect or ascending branched stem. The lower leaves are stalked and pinnately lobed with narrow toothed segments tipped with a bristle; the upper leaves are sessile, usually with only three toothed lobes. The flowers are a large, solitary red flower of four petals borne on a long stalk growing from the leaf axils. The fruit is an ovoid hairless capsule, rounded at the base and with a ring of pores near the top when ripe. Research Common Poppy
Fumariaceae is a small family of exogenous plants closely allied to Papaveraceae. The species are slender-stemmed, herbaceous plants, generally erect, though some climb by means of their twisting leaf-stalks. Many species are objects of cultivation by the gardener for the sake of their showy flowers. All are astringent and acrid plants, and are reputed diaphoretics and aperients. They inhabit the temperate and warm regions of the northern hemisphere and South Africa. Research Fumariaceae
The Iranian Poppy (Papaver bracteatum) is a very poisonous perennialherb of the family Papaveraceae, with a branched tap root. In the first year it forms a basal rosette of pinnately divided and toothed leaves; in the second and subsequent years it produces robust stems terminated by large, red, solitary flowers with bracteoles beneath that distinguish it from the similar Oriental Poppy. The fruit is a globose capsule with brown seeds. It is possible to derive codeine from the Iranian Poppy (which contains thebaine), in much larger quantities than can be obtained from the Opium Poppy, and unlike the Opium Poppy it is very difficult to obtain morphine from the
Iranian Poppy. Research Iranian Poppy
The opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) is an erect, bluish-green, almost hairless annual plant of the family Papaveraceae, widely distributed through Europe growing on disturbed ground. It bears bowl-shaped flowers that are between seven and ten centimetres across, with almost circular petals which are pink, white or purple in colour, sometimes with a dark spot at the base. The dried juice extracted from the seed capsule is the drug opium. Research Opium Poppy
Papaveraceae is a family of plants which includes the poppy, with flowers containing usually two sepals, four free petals, and hypogynous stamens. The fruit is a one-celled, many-seeded capsule, the seeds being inserted on incomplete septa which do not meet in the centre of the capsule. Research Papaveraceae
Abbreviations
Research Blood-root
