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Popular Article
Sudhakar et al, BR/06/19/04

Biomolecule Reports ISSN:2456-8759

Argemone Mexicana: Boons and Banes

Anjali Sudhakar1*, Puneet Kumar2, Subir Kumar Chakraborty3
1,2Ph. D Scholar, ICAR- Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal
3Sr. Scientist, ICAR- Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal
*E-mail: anjalisudhakar04@gmail.com

The Earth is blessed with thousands of natural species of fauna, some of which are
beneficial for human consumption as a food or as a medicine. In ancient time people
identified and categorized the plants according to their desirability to human beings. The
plants which are undesirable (in particular case)
Table 1: Taxonomic data
were called “weeds”. The connotation of weed has
Domain Eukaryota
always been negative. But sometimes weeds are
Kingdom Plantae
grown intentionally in gardens or other cultivated
Phylum Spermatophyte
lands due to the medicinal benefits they bear.
Subphylum Angiospermae
Argemone Mexicana is one such type of weed
Class Decotyledonae
which has several benefits in medical science. This
Order Papaverales
herbaceous medicinal plant belongs to
Genus Argemone
Papaveraceae family. The taxonomic information
Species Argemone mexicana
of the argemone plant (Bhatt and Jain, 2012) is
given in table 1.
Argemone is a Greek word meaning cataract of the eye. Other common names of
argemone are mexican prickly-poppy, yellow prickly poppy, yellow thistle. In India it is
generally known as „satyanashi‟ in Hindi, „svarnakshiri’ in Sanskrit because of the yellow
juice (svarna- yellow, kshiri- juice), „siyal-kanta‟ in Bengali, „datturigidda‟ in Kannada,
„brahmadandi‟ in Telegu and „kudiyotti‟ in Tamil.

Plant description
The exact origin of this species is obscure, but it is often thought to be natives to
western US and parts of Mexico. This exotic weed is an annual growing plant naturalized in
tropical and sub-tropical regions and can tolerate temperature as low as -5°C to -10°C. In
India it is widely spread in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh, Delhi and some parts of
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Argemone

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plant can grow in agricultural lands, roadsides, river banks, grasslands and even sustain in
poor soil condition and better suited to nitrogen deficit land. Argemone Mexicanais an erect
prickly, hairless, herb with branched taproot, prickly stem, yellow juice and showy yellow
flowers. The plant height is up to 150 cm. The plant contains about 60-90 fruits of capsule
like structure. The seeds are spherical, shining black and pitted of diameter ranging 1.2-1.5
mm. The seeds of the plant germinate during late winter season.

Plant Flower Fruit Seed

Fig. 1. Argemone Mexicana

Argemone plant grows annually but its blooming time is in the month of March,
April, May and June. This weed thrives in bright light, well-drained and mildly acidic (pH
<6.8) soil. Seed production per plant ranges between 18000 and 36000. In India, the cost of
cultivation of argemone is approximately Rs. 5000/ha including major agricultural operations
like ploughing, irrigation, fertilizer application, transportation, labour charges and others. The
productivity in undisturbed land is 6-9 t/ha. Light tillage operation is sufficient for its
destruction in agricultural land. Herbicide which includes 2,4-D, 2,4-DB, dicamba, diuron,
fluroxypyr, hexazinone, karbutilate, MCPA, metribuzin, oxadiazon, picloram and tertyrynare
used to control the growth and spread of this weed.
Argemone Mexicana Uses
Argemone Mexicana is analgesic, antispasmodic, possibly hallucinogenic andsedative.
The whole plant is used against asthma, its roots are used with rum and cognacto control
stomach pain andsap from the cut end of the stem is applied to cavities as a treatment for
toothache. The exudate of the plant has been used traditionally as a medicine for dropsy,
jaundice, opthalmia, scabies and conjunctivitis. Its leaves contain two aliphatic compounds;
mexicanol and mexicanic acid which helps in maintaining normal blood circulation and
cholesterol level in human body. Argemone flower is an expectorant thus used for cough
treatment, while the seeds contain alkaloids which are used as purgative, laxative and
digestive. The use of Argemone Mexicana has been successfully used for treatment of
diseases like tumors, warts, skin diseases, inflammation, jaundice, leprosy, microbial
infection and malaria (Bramachari et al., 2013).

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The extracts of Argemone Mexicana can be used as bio-fungicide to control root

infection in tomato plant. The decaying shoot of Argemone Mexicanain soil provides a
remarkable decrease in the fungi Fusarium solani and Rhizoctonia solani. Argemone
Mexicanain conjunction with Pseudomonas aeruginosacts as a plant promoting
rhizobacterium and thus suppresses root-infecting fungi and reduces galling rate with
concomitant increase in plant growth. The lower concentration of its extract can enhance
plant growth but at higher concentration (5 % w/w) it is deleterious to plant.
The argemone seed contain 22-36 per cent of non-edible oil so it can be used as a
biodiesel. Methyl ester extracted from argemone seed by trans-esterification is a low-cost
biofuel (Singh and Singh, 2010) compared to conventional diesel with almost same physical
properties.
Argemone has been used in a miscellaneous way in different parts of the world. In
Mali, its tea is used to cure malaria and sleep disorder. In Mexico, it is understood that it has
repellent qualities for white ants so it is used to make furniture polish. In West America it is
used as cosmetic also. In East Africa, grounded argemone seeds are put in to beer or tea to
increase their potency and cause drunkenness. The seed oil has been used for lightening
purpose. In India, argemone oil is mixed with mustard oil to increase its pungency.

Toxicity of argemone
Argemone oil contains two major toxic alkaloids such as Sanguinarine and
dihydrosanguinarine which contributes about 5% and 87% respectively. Berberine (0.57%),
protopine (0.34%), cheletrythrine (0.12%) and coptisine (0.03%) are minor alkaloids present
in argemone oil. Sanguinarine binds to plasma proteins and can be retained in the
gastrointestinal tract, liver, lung, kidney, heart and serum, for up to 96 hours after ingestion.
Over prolonged period of time this may lead to cumulative toxicity even with low dose
exposure. These alkaloids are the main reason for epidemic dropsy (Hakim 1954), which
reported time to time in India and other parts of the world. All outbreaks were related to the
intake of mustard oil contaminated with argemone oil. To prevent the adulteration, the Food
Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) enforced the prevailing law such as
Prevention of Food Adulteration Act and Packaged Commodities Order should be
implemented more rigorously (Pahariya et al., 2007). Argemone alkaloids inhibit Na+, K+ -
ATPase and destruct cytochrome P-450. Due to these reasons glycogen level decreases in
liver resulting into diarrhoea.

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Argemone as an adulterant
Argemone oil has a distinct pungent flavor, this makes it a potent adulterant during
manufacturing of mustard oil. Moreover, the morphology of argemone seed resembles that of
mustard seed, thus making the adulteration at raw material stage easy for the traders (Sharma
et al., 1999). Adulteration in excess of 1 per cent posses serious threat to human health, the
toxicity produced can be fatal. In 1998 around 65 people lost their lives due to argemone
adulteration and about 3000 were taken ill in Delhi (Verma et al., 2001).

Test for argemone

Colour test and thin layer chromatography are the tests performed to detect presence
of argemone oil in adulterated mustard oil. Colour test is a chemical method to test argemone
oil on the basis of change in colour of the reactants used (Shukla et al., 2005). There are three
particular colour tests- nitric acid test, ferric chloride test and cupric acetate test. They are as
follow:
1. Nitric acid test: 5 ml oil is shaken with an equal volume of nitric acid. On standing, the
acid layer turns yellow, orange-yellow or crimson, depending upon the amount of
argemoneoil. The test is sensitive to a concentration of >0.25%. It has a high false-positive
rate and a positive test must be confirmed.
2. Ferric chloride test: 2 ml of oil and 2 ml of concentrated hydrochloric acid aremixed and
heated in a water bath at 33.5–35°C for 2 minutes. Then 8 ml of ethylalcohol is added and
the mixture is heated in the bath for 1 minute. Finally, 2mlof ferric chloride is added and
the tube is heated in the bath for a further 10minutes. If argemoneoil is present, an orange-
red precipitate is formed.
3. Cupric acetate test: 5 ml of adulterated oil is mixed with 1ml of gallic acetic acid and 2 mg
of cupric acetate solution in a test tube. Formation of green colour solution confirmed the
presence of argemone oil.
Thin layer chromatography: It is the most sensitive method; can detect down to 0.0001%
argemone oil adulteration.

Conclusion

Argemone Mexicana is known with different names in different languages and regions but its
uses for medicinal purpose are all where same. Every part of the plant from root to the leaves
has specific medicinal quality. Argemone Mexicana has countless biological activities such as
antibacterial, anti-HIV, anti-inflammatory, fungitoxic, antioxidant, antimalarial etc. The oil
produced from the argemone seed can be used as biofuel. Argemone oil contains two major

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toxic alkaloids which can cause epidemic dropsy or sometimes loss of human lives. The
higher per cent of oil content and the resemblance of argemone seed to that of mustard seed
make it an adulterant in mustard oil. The government is taking necessary steps to curb it and
few of the countries banned argemone production. It is very difficult to visually identify the
mustard oil adulterated with argemone oil but on the basis of chemical tests the presence of
argemone can be easily identified. Since Argemone Mexicana has both toxic compounds as
well important medicinal uses so the choice of using it has always been a matter of debate.

References
Bhatt, A. and Jain, S. K. (2012). Argemone Mexicana: a review. Novus International Journal
of Pharmaceutical Technology. 1(3): 10-20.
Brahmachari, G., Gorai, D. and Roy, R. (2013). Argemone mexicana: chemical and
pharmacological aspects. Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia, 23(3), 559-575.
Hakim, S. A. (1954). Argemone oil, sanguinarine, and epidemic-dropsy glaucoma. The
British journal of ophthalmology, 38(4), 193.
Pahariya, N. C. and Mukherjee, C. (2007). Commodity revenue management: India‟s
rapeseed/mustard oil sector. International Institute for Sustainable Development
(IISD), Winnepeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Sharma, B. D., Malhotra, S., Bhatia, V. and Rathee, M. (1999). Epidemic dropsy in
India. Postgraduate medical journal, 75(889), 657-661.
Shukla, A. K., Dixit, A. K. and Singh, R. P. (2005). Detection of argemone oil in mustard
oil. Journal of Oleo Science, 54(2), 81-83.
Singh, D. and Singh, S. P. (2010). Low cost production of ester from non-edible oil of
Argemone mexicana. Biomass and bioenergy, 34(4), 545-549.
Verma, S. K., Dev, G., Tyagi, A. K., Goomber, S. and Jain, G. V. (2001). Argemone
mexicana poisoning: autopsy findings of two cases. Forensic Science
International, 115(1-2), 135-141.

Biomolecule Reports- An International eNewsletter BR/06/19/04