Mexican prickly poppy

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Mexican prickly poppy
Argemone.mexicana001.jpg

Mexican prickly poppy ( Argemone mexicana )

Systematics
Eudicotyledons
Order : Buttercups (Ranunculales)
Family : Poppy Family (Papaveraceae)
Subfamily : Papaveroideae
Genre : Prickly poppy ( Argemone )
Type : Mexican prickly poppy
Scientific name
Argemone mexicana
L.

The Mexican prickly poppy ( Argemone mexicana ) is a species of the genus prickly poppy ( Argemone ) in the poppy family (Papaveraceae).

features

The Mexican prickly poppy is an annual plant that reaches heights of 25 to 100 centimeters. The stems are more or less prickly . The leaves are bare, gray-green, pinnate, sessile and more or less encompassing the stem. They measure 6 to 20 × 3 to 8 centimeters. There are spines on its edge and on the whitish veins.

The threefold and hermaphrodite flowers are 4 to 7 centimeters in diameter. The six petals in two circles are colored lemon yellow to orange. The acuminate sepals are sloping. There are front and back sheets. There are 20 to 75 stamens present. The upper permanent ovary has a short stylus with a lobed scar .

Prickly, egg-shaped to elongated frame capsules are formed, which contain many blackish, about 1–2 millimeters large and round, structured and short-pointed seeds.

The chromosome number is 2n = 28.

Mexican prickly poppy flower ( Argemone mexicana )
Capsule and seeds of Mexican prickly poppy ( Argemone mexicana )
Argemone mexicana

Occurrence

The Mexican prickly poppy is native to South Florida and the Caribbean, where it occurs on dry sandy areas. It is widely naturalized in the subtropics, the southern and eastern USA as well as in southern and western Europe.

use

The Mexican prickly poppy is rarely used as an ornamental plant in summer flower beds or as an oil plant . It has been in culture since 1592 at the latest. The oil is poisonous due to the sanguinarine and dihydrosanguinarine content . Poisoning, sometimes with epidemic proportions, occurs again and again when cooking oils are contaminated - intentionally or unintentionally - with oil from Mexican prickly poppy seeds.

Study results from the University of Oxford indicate that prickly poppy seeds drunk twice a day as tea in acute malaria is as effective as an artemisinin combined standard therapy (ACT).

supporting documents

  • Eckehart J. Jäger, Friedrich Ebel, Peter Hanelt , Gerd K. Müller (eds.): Rothmaler excursion flora from Germany. Volume 5: Herbaceous ornamental and useful plants . Spectrum Academic Publishing House, Berlin Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-3-8274-0918-8 .
  • Jaakko Jalas, Juha Suominen: Atlas florae europaeae . Volume 9 (Paeoniaceae to Capparaceae). Page 55, Helsinki 1991, ISBN 951-9108-08-4 .

Individual proof

  1. ↑ M. Das, SK Khanna: Clinicoepidemiological, Toxicological, and Safety Evaluation Studies on Argemone Oil . In: Critical Reviews in Toxicology . 27, No. 3, 1997, pp. 273-297. doi : 10.3109 / 10408449709089896 . PMID 9189656 .
  2. ^ Daniela Biermann: Prickly poppies against malaria. In: Pharmazeutische Zeitung of September 11, 2014, 159th issue, 37th edition, page 24

Web links

Commons : Mexican Prickly Poppy ( Argemone mexicana )  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files