Mexican prickly poppy

Description:

Yellow flowered thistle-like plant with palmate glaucous leaves with long sharp prickles or thorns. Very bright yellow flower about 2 inches in diameter. Plant is 7 to 12 inches tall spreading approximately 12 to 14 inches in width.

Habitat:

Growing in a sand shoulder of road adjacent to a canal. Approximatelt one half mile from the everglades.

Notes:

Chemical constituents - A. mexicana seeds contain 22–36% of a pale yellow non-edible oil, called argemone oil or katkar oil, which contains the toxic alkaloids sanguinarine and dihydrosanguinarine. Four quaternary isoquinoline alkaloids, dehydrocorydalmine, jatrorrhizine, columbamine, and oxyberberine, have been isolated from the whole plant of Argemone mexicana. The seed pods secrete a pale yellow latex when cut open. This argemone resin contains berberine and protopine. ToxicityThe seeds resemble the seeds of Brassica nigra (mustard). As a result, mustard can be adulterated by argemone seeds, rendering it poisonous. Several significant instances of katkar poisoning have been reported in India, Fiji, South Africa and other countries. The last major outbreak in India occurred in 1998. 1% adulteration of mustard oil by argemone oil has been shown to cause clinical disease. Katkar oil poisoning causes epidemic dropsy, with symptoms including extreme swelling, particularly of the legs. Traditional medicineThe Seri of Sonora, Mexico use the entire plant both fresh and dried. An infusion is made to relieve kidney pain, to help expel a torn placenta, and in general to help cleanse the body after parturition. When the Spanish arrived in Sonora they added this plant to their pharmacopia and called it cardosanto, which should not be mistranslated to blessed thistle (Cnicus benedictus). Use in Hispanic cultures includes as a sedative and analgesic tea, including for use to help alleviate migraine headaches. The seeds are taken as a laxative. Argemone mexicana is used by traditional healers in Mali to treat malaria. Other usesBiodiesel production from A. mexicana seed oil using crystalline manganese carbonate has been demonstrated.