Escholzia and Extract

E in poppies A To Z includes the California state flower and the extraction process of the alkaloids in the opium poppy.
The poppy species that is known botanically as Escholzia californica is a species that is native to California and Mexico and is also known as the California poppy. This is the state flower that was voted as the state flower December 12, 1890 by California’s State Floral Society. This is a yellow gold in color and has won the favor of writers and painters.

The Papaver somnife is the botanical name for the opium poppy and to obtain the alkaloids from the poppy pod there is an extraction process that is done over several days. Using a tool called a nustar does the extraction; this tool has four sharp blades that are used to make shallow slices. These slices are shallow enough that it does not pierce the membrane that protects the seeds and separates the seeds from the alkaloids. These slices allow a milky substance to seep from the pod, which is left to dry and then taken from the pod, the same process is repeated two or three times.

When the milky substance dries it is then carefully extracted from the pod and often taken to a makeshift lab in the field to be manufactured into morphine. This is done because it is easier to smuggle morphine out of countries that grow the Papaver somnife to extract opium.

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