Question

What is the scientific name of Opium?

Answer 1

The full name of opium is opium poppy, it is a one kind of flower from which many things are obtained that are useful to human beings such as its seeds and other things that are used by pharmaceutical industries to prepare medicines and other drugs. It is the species of papaveraceae.

Complete answer:
The scientific name of the flower opium or opium poppy is ‘Papaver somniferum’ and this flower is a species of flowering plant in the family of papaveraceae.
Opium or opium poppy is a famous plant among pharmaceutical industries and food industries, as from this plant both opium and poppy seeds are obtained.
This plant produces poppy seeds that are eaten by humans and thus it is grown as an agricultural crop on a large scale. It also gives out the material required to produce opium, thus pharmaceutical industries also use this plant for medicinal purposes.
Apart from this, other kinds of alkaloids like thebaine and oripavine are also produced by pharmaceutical industries. This plant is also sometimes used for ornamental purposes. And as it is a flowering plant, it is also grown in gardens.
Opium poppy is also more commonly known as breadseed poppy as the most thing obtained from this is the edible seeds. It can mostly be found across Europe and Asia.

Note:
The name breadseed poppy is more popular nowadays as the amount of opium that plants of Papaver somniferum varieties produce is not enough. Opium is used for the making of illegal drugs like heroin, but it's true use is for medicinal and other purposes. It can be used to produce illegal drug as it contains around twelve percent of analgesic alkaloid morphine.