PETALA RHCEADOS. 39 



PAPAVEEACE^. 



PETALA RHCEADOS. 



Flares Rhceados ; Red Poppy Petals; F. Fleurs de Coqvelicot ; 



KlatscJivosen. 



Botanical Ongin—Papaver Phoeas L.— The commou lied PopDv or 

 torn Kose is an annual herb found in fields throughout the ™itcr 

 part ot ±.uroi>e often in extreme abundance. It almost always occurs 

 as an accompaniment of cereal crops, frequently disappearing when 

 this cultivation is given up. It is plentiful in England and Ireland, 

 but less so in Scotland ; is found abundantly in Central and Southern 

 t.m-ope and m Asia Minor, whence it extends as ftir as Abyssinia, 

 Iml • ^ M ^^ ^^""^^ ""^ ^^'^ Eu23hrates. But it docs not occur in 



India or in North America 



ih/.?'1 f^^^.^'^^ence adduced by De Candolle' it would appear that 

 the C ' '' "'^ ^^ indigenous to Sicily, Greece, Dalmatia, and possibly 



History— -Pa^ayg,. Pha^as was known to the ancients, though doubt- 



r^fi '''^^?^^^^ confounded with P. dubium L. the flowers of which are 



at ler smaller and paler. The petals were used in pliarmacy in Germany 



in the loth century.^ "^ 



• J?^^^^'^P^io^~'Tho branches of the stem are upright, each terminat- 

 ng in a conspicuous long-stalked flower, from which as it opens the 

 iZ'^'''^' ^^ .^ff- The delicate scarlet petals are four in number, 

 vioW }^ elliptical and attached below the ovary by very short, dark- 

 exrZ 1 T^' ^^ ^\^y ^''"^ ^'-^^ader than long, their edges overlap in the 



uSwi ''''• J'\^^'^ ^"^ ^^^y ^^'^ "regularly crumpled, but when 

 unioided are smooth, lustrous, and unctuous to the touch They fall off 



quickly 

 em when dried withThrutmosTca^e! 



Althou 



a mi'ltTr • • i-r V "I'liiubu eaie. Aitnougn iney ao not contain 



strona^'^"'''?- ^ ^. ^'^'^ ^""^^^ P^^^^ o^ ^^e plant, they have while fresh a 

 «wong narcotic odour and a faintly bitter taste. 



Petik^^-"^\T^ Composition— The most important constituent of the 

 Accordin It ^Sl^?"ng "tatter, still but very imperfectly known. 



could T ^ t • ^/'^'' ^^^^^> '^ ^^^^^'^^^ «f ^^^'0 a^i^S' neither of which 

 matter • ^ ; ^'"^f^ <^^her than in an amorphous state. The colouring 

 «ther Tl ^^^'"'^^^^ly taken up by water or spirit of wine but not by 

 dinev ^.; f';^^^eous infusion is not precipitated by alum, but yields a 



brovvn 1 , f Precipitate with acetate of lead, and is coloured blackish- 

 luvvn by ferric salts or bv nlL-nlic 



loids of opium cannot be 



has exnminorl +V.n 1.if<^^,. , 



Attfield 



•niiig a trace of that body. 



» fe PapatiS !i-/^— ^ ^^- , Nordlingon. See Fluckiger, in the Archiv 



""« pharmaSuS 2 '~l\^^^ ^^"* ^"^ "^'^ ^^"^'•»*- 211 (1877) 97, No. 62. 



