Industrial Cannabis Grow Rooms and Medicinal Gardens

This widely cultivated plant is familiar in many garden where, once sown, it often comes up without fail year after year, never failing to surprise and delight in its subtle variations of flower shape and color. Opium resin contains a complex mixture of alkaloids (over 20 have been isolated) that include codeine, morphine, narceine, narcotine, papaverine and thebaine, all of which are of significant use in the pharmaceutical industry. These are extracted from the latex present primarily in the fruit-capsule and in the upper stem. Many different varieties of opium poppy are grown for medicine and differ primarily in the ratio and quantities of different alkaloids. Medicinal drugs based on opium are analgesic, sedative and antispasmodic, as well as soporific, and are also used in the treatment of various stomach disorders.

Crude opium is gathered for the narcotic trade by lancing the semi-mature capsule with a series of longitudinal grooves using a special implement for the purpose, Latex, which is contained in specialized (articulate lactiferous vessels) close to the surface, exudes along these grooves to accumulate at the base of the capsule. Within 24 hours it solidifies and can then be collected. This brown gum is rolled into balls and stored – it will keep for a long time – and is converted to heroin by a process of ‘cooking’ and the addition of various chemical catalysts. Continue Reading…

In gardens the opium poppy presents few problems, except that it will often seed around in profusion. Seedlings should be ruthlessly thinned if they are to produce good strong plants. The ordinary single flowered forms grown in gardens have a range of colors, though pinks, purple and reds predominate, the petals sometimes with a delightful gradation of color reminiscent of shot-silk. Poor colored forms should be rogued out the moment they come into flower, otherwise after only a few years poor pinks and dirty purple will begin to dominate.

P. somniferum are vigorous, sometimes reaching 5ft (1.5m) tall, so they require plenty of space to develop. All of them having a pleasing, though somewhat heady fragrance, much loved by bees. Two of the more eccentric forms are the ‘Giganteum’, which has the largest fruits (seed capsule) and the ‘Hens and Chicks’ in which the main fruit capsule is surrounded by a halo of smaller pods.

It is part of our tradition to integrate the natural medicines which come from plants into our sense of health and healing. Often, such plants can be poisonous or healing, depending on how these plants are used. A small amount used occasionally can be a medicine. Too much of the same plant may be deadly. By understanding the nature of things, we come to know how best to use the herbs we grow. Continue Reading…