Ying Su Ke

Papaver somniferum, the opium poppy, is an erect glaucous annual herb in the family Papaveraceae, cultivated worldwide and naturalized from its probable Mediterranean origin. Plants grow 60–150 cm tall with lobed, clasping bluish-green leaves and large solitary flowers 5–10 cm across in shades of white, pink, red, or purple, often with a dark basal blotch. The fruit is a subglobose to ovoid capsule 3–9 cm in diameter, glaucous-green ripening to brown, crowned by a persistent disc of 8–15 radiating stigmas; the capsule wall yields a milky latex containing morphine, codeine, thebaine, and other opium alkaloids. Ying Su Ke is the dried mature empty capsule (after removal of seeds) collected in summer. In TCM it is sour, astringent, and neutral with toxicity, binding the lung to stop chronic cough, astringing the intestines for chronic diarrhea, and relieving pain. It is a strictly controlled narcotic substance in most jurisdictions.