If it could again be procured, it would probably be pre- 

 served, for we are now more acquainted with its habits than 

 we were at first ; and it is evidently a pretty plant, if we 

 are to judge from the dried specimens in the herbarium of 

 the Horticultural Society. Both these and its seeds were 

 sent home by Mr. Douglas without a particle of information' 

 as to the treatment it would require. 



Mr. Bentham, to whom we are indebted for the first 

 account of it, speaks of it as being as " interesting to the 

 Horticulturist from its beauty as it is to the Botanist, from 

 formino; the connecting; link between the Ranunculaceae and 

 Papaveraceae. The trisepalous calyx, and numerous dis- 

 tinct ovaria would have placed it in the former order, were 

 it not for the structure of the anthers, the very deciduous 

 sepals, and the general habit, which do not admit of its 

 being removed from Papaveraceae, especially considering its 

 close affinity with Eschscholtzia through Platystigma and 

 Dendromecon. 



" It is a low, branching, erect, and pale green annual, 

 seldom attaining beyond a foot in height. The whole 

 plant is smooth, with the exception of long spreading hairs 

 on the peduncles, the margins, and here and there the sur- 

 face of the leaves, and on the calyx and ovaria. The leaves 

 are alternate, the upper ones often several, so near together 

 as to have the appearance of an imperfect whorl ; they 

 are oblong, lanceolate, obtuse, perfectly entire, embrace the 

 stem at the base, and are marked with from three to five 

 parallel ribs. The peduncles are solitary, axillary, about 

 six inches long, and bear at the extreihity a single erect 

 flower, rather larger than that of the common Helianthe- 

 mum. The sepals are very hairy, round, ovate and ob- 

 tuse ; the petals yellow, with occasionally a reddish tinge 

 outside. The flower is sweet-scented, and of a pale straw 

 colour." 



Considered in a botanical point of view, it serves to 

 show the very close relationship that exists between the 

 Crowfoot and Poppy tribes, to the former of which its dis- 

 tinct carpella, and to the latter its deciduous calyx and oily 

 albumen so nearly equally refer it, that it might be a ques- 

 tion in which of the two it ought with the greater propriety 



