XLVL 



PAPAVER* SOMNIFERUM. 



(opium.) 

 White Poppy. 



Synonyms. — Papaver, Hall Hist., v. ii. p. 16. Papaver sylvestre, Rati Syn., 

 p. 308 ; Ger. Fm., p. 370, f. Papaver sativum, Math. Vulg., v. ii. p. 205 ; Corner. 

 Fpit., 103; Bauh. Hist., vol. v. p. 390. Papaver somniferum, Linn. Sp. PL, 

 p. 726 ; Willd., vol. ii. p. 147; Fl. Brit., p. 568; Woodville, v. i. t. 185. 



Foreign Names. — Fr.: Pavot des Jardins. Ital.: Papavero domestico. 

 Span. : Adormedera. Port. : Dormedeira. Germ. : Garten mohn, Mohnsaft. 

 Swed. : Vallmo. Dan. s Yallmue. 



Nat Order, Papaverace^e.— Polyandria, Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. — Sepals two, convex, deciduous. Petals four. Stamens 

 numerous. Style none. Stigmas four to twenty, radiating, sessile upon 

 the disk, crowning the ovary. Capsule obovate, one-celled, composed 

 of four to twenty carpels, enclosed in a membranous production of 



stigm 



forming 



dissepiments (Z>. C). Herbaceous plants, with d 

 white, milky juice. The peduncles (flower-stalks) drooping before 



wers large, various in colour. Capsules bristly or 



flowering. Flow 

 smooth. The two 



stigma well distinguish this from other genera with a tetrapetalous 

 corolla in the same class and order. 

 Spec. Char.— Capsule nearly globular, smooth, as well as the calyx and 

 stem. Leaves embracing the stem notched, glaucous. 



History.— This plant and the preparations from itf were 



Fig. 1. Germen and sessile radiated stigma. 2. A stamen. 3. Section of the 

 capsule. 



From Papa, pap, because it was used with pap given to children to induce 

 sleep ; a custom, says Dr. Thornton, which has carried thousands to the grave. 



t Christison says : " Among the various preparations of the Mniwy vpcpos, 

 which is supposed by many to have been the modern garden Poppy, there is one, 

 the mkwos ottos, or poppy-juice, which was prepared in ancient times, as we learn 

 from Dioscorides, very nearly in the same way as Opium is now made from the 

 same plant in Asia Minor, Hindostan, and Europe." 



11 <* 



