Opium Mauve

Opium

Opium is the dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy Papaver somniferum. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which is processed chemically to produce heroin and other synthetic opioids for medicinal use and for the illegal drug trade. Opium's main psychoactive alkaloids, primarily morphine, act on μ-opioid receptors, causing analgesia, with long-term use leading to tolerance and dependence. The latex also contains the closely related opiates codeine and thebaine, and non-analgesic alkaloids such as papaverine and noscapine. The traditional, labor-intensive method of obtaining the latex is to scratch ("score") the immature seed pods (fruits) by hand; The latex leaks out and dries to a sticky yellowish residue that is later scraped off and dehydrated.

Mauve

Mauve is a pale purple color named after the mallow flower. The first use of the word mauve as a color was in 1796–1798 according to the Oxford English Dictionary, but its use seems to have been rare before 1859. Another name for the color is mallow, with the first recorded use of mallow as a color name in English in 1611.

opium

Noun

1. A yellow-brown, addictive narcotic drug obtained from the dried juice of unripe pods of the opium poppy, Papaver somniferum, and containing alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, and papaverine.
2. Anything that numbs or stupefies.

mauve

Noun

1. A rich purple synthetic dye, which faded easily, briefly popular c. 1859‒1873 and now called mauveine.
2. A pale purple or violet colour, like the colour of the dye after it has faded.

Adjective

1. Having a pale purple colour.