Plant · P-629

Poppy Seed

Papaver somniferum

This is the opium poppy, grown for its seed - itself completely non-toxic, protein-rich, and eaten raw or cooked on bread and in pastry - and for the oil pressed from that seed, an almond-flavored drying oil used in cooking, paints, soap and even lamp fuel. Everything else about the plant is not safe: the latex in the unripe seed pod is the source of opium and the pain-killing alkaloids derived from it, powerful and addictive compounds usable only under qualified supervision. In the United States, federal law treats the living plant as a controlled substance while explicitly exempting the seed, so whoever grows it should check the law where they live rather than assume the seed's ordinary availability settles the question for the plant itself. It self-sows readily enough that a bed will keep coming back from shed seed unless the pods are cut before they dry.