Botanical name:Papaver somniferum Linn.
Family name:Papaveraceae.

Indian names are as follows:
Hindi:Kaskash
Bengali:Posta
Gujarati:Khuskhush
Kannada:Khasksi
Malayalam:Kashakasha
Marathi:Khus Khus
Oriya:Posta, Apu manji
Punjabi:Khus Khus, Khas Khas
Sanskrit:Khasa, Khaksa
Tamil:Gashagasha, Kaqsakasa
Telugu:Kasakasa, Gasagasla, Gasalu
Urdu:Kashkash Safaid.

The seed of the fruit is the spice as well as a popular food. But the plant is better known as a narcotic plant. The gum from the fruit is known as `Opium` that is ill famed for addiction. In fact, the growers grow the plant for Opium that fetches them greater value than its seed. It is said that in Afghanistan the Talibans funded their insurgency activities out of opium trade. Opium is one of the items that are traded illegally by the insurgents of North Eastern India and by the gangsters of Mumbai.

Opium apart from its addiction values is also considered as medicine. Many of the traditional herbal preparations are manufactured with opium as one of the important ingredient. Since plant itself requires license and seed is the part of the total story, production of seed, which is a spice, is also monitored by the Excise Department. However, in the regions where it is grown with legal sanction, seed can be an important resource to plan rural industrialization programme under close watch of Excise Department, which is statutory requirement.

In India, poppy with white seeds has been cultivated for many years for the production of seed under license in Dehra Dun and Tehri Garhwal districts of Uttaranchal and in Jullundur, Kapurthala, Hosiarpur and Patiala districts of Punjab. In Europe, a different variety, which has slate to blue colored seeds, and known as `Maw seeds`, is exclusively cultivated for this purpose. In Punjab, cultivation of opium poppy for poppy heads has been banned.

The white seeds are very small. The analysis of seeds from five types of Indian poppy gave the following ranges of values:

Moisture:4.3 to 5.2%
Protein:22.3 to 24.4%
Ether extract:46.5 to 49.1%
Nitrogen free extract:11.7 to 14.3%
Fiber:4.8 to 5.8%
Total ash:5.6 to 6.0%
Calcium:1,03 to 1.45%
Phosphorus:0.79 to 0.89%
Iron:8.5 to 11.1 mg/100 gram.

It also yield thiamine, riboflavin and nicotinic acid considerably, but carotene is absent. There are also small quantities of minerals such as iodine, manganese, copper, magnesium and zinc. The seeds also contain lecithin (2.80%), oxalic acid (1.62%), pentosans (3.0 to 3.6%), traces of narcotine and an amorphous alkaloid, and the enzymes diastase, emulsin, lipase and nuclease.

The seeds have a high protein content, the major component being a globulin, which accounts for 55% of the total nitrogen. The amino acid make up of the globulin is similar to that of the whole seed protein and is as follows (g/11g N):
Arginine:10.4
Histidine:2.9
Lysine:1.5
Tyrosine:4.7
Tryptophan:2.0
Phenylalanine:4.1
Cystine:2.0
Methionine:2.3
Threonine:4.2
Valine:7.1.

The proteins are deficient in lysine and methionine. At 10% level of intake, they have a biological value of 57.9% and a digestibility coefficient of 81%.

Farming of Popyseed
Poppy Seed is cultivated almost all over Far Eastern countries, Afghanistan, part of North Eastern India, particularly interior districts like Ukhrul in Manipur etc., and some of the other places in India. Officially under legal license it is cultivated in Varanasi region of Uttar Pradesh and in few selected states. It requires license from Excise Departments who monitor the activities. It is also illegal to trade its seeds in raw condition and should only be sold after boiling so that the seed that is sold cannot regenerate a plant illegally.