Opium Poppy

This opium poppy shows an unripe seed capsule with a mature flower in the background. The opium itself is collected after all the flower petals have fallen off. Slits are made down the length of the seed capsule, allowing the milky latex to ooze out and harden. After the plastic, gummy opium is removed, it can be refined into heroin, morphine, and codeine—all habit-forming analgesics. Opium is used as a sedative and painkiller in terminal conditions.