Name - कटुपर्णी

Botanical name - Argemone mexicana

Description - A prickly herb; ± 60-90 cm with yellow latex; leaves sinuate pinnatifid, green and white, naff amplexicaul; fknvers ± 50 mm in diameter, yellow, sepals cuspidate; capsules 20-38 mm long.

Chemical Constituents- Plant contains isoquinolone alkaloid oxyhydrastinine, corydine and isocorydine. Latex contains alkaloids berberine, protopine and many others. Roots contain alkaloid protopine, berberine, tannin and resin. Flowers contain isorhamnetin, isorhamnetin-3- glucoside andisorhamnetin 3,7-diglucoside. Stem contains tannin, resin, P-sitosterol. Seeds contain phenolic compounds argimexitin, fatty oil known as argemone oil. Oil contains 2 alkaloids sanguinarine and dihydrosanguinerine and fatty acids

Use - Yellow juice of the plant used in scabies and in opthalmia. Seed oil in cutaneous troubles. It is a cathartic and acts as laxative, expectorant, emetic. Poisonous in large doses. Juice is used in jaundice, dropsy and skin diseases. Prolonged use of seed oil causes symptoms resembling epidemic dropsy.