The Papaveraceae family includes over 40 genera and 760 species in the world, of that 5 genera, namely
Papaver L. with 15 species, Glaucium Mill with 5 species, Hypecoum L. with 3 species, Roemeria Medic
with 2 species and Eschscholzia Cham with one cultivated species occur in Iraq. Opium alkaloids of 14
species of Papaveraceae in addition to two species of Fumaria L. were chemically studied using High
Performance liquid Chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Five opium alkaloids, Morphine, Codeine,
Thebaine, Papaverine and Noscapine were significantly detected and variably distributed in the species.
The highest concentration of opium alkaloids was Noscapine with 814.624 ppm in P. somniferum while
the lowest concentration was codeine with 66.978 ppm in the same species. Our results support
maintaining Fumaria in distinct family Fumariaceae.