Ran ALES.] 



PAPAVERACE.E. 



431 



they are all furnished with milk, as every gardener well knows. The anomalies in the 

 Order are of httle importance, with the exception of Eschscholtzia, which has its stamens 

 arising from the throat of a bell-shaped excavation of the flower-stalk, analogous to 

 what occurs in the Rose, and which gives the stamens the appearance of being pcrigjiious 

 instead of hypogynous. A comparison of the stinicture of Poppyworts and Crucifers, by 

 Mirbel; is to be found m the Arm. des Sc. 6. 266. A plant called Romneya, found in 

 California by Coulter, offers a very remarkable structure. It approaches in many 

 respects very near Argemone ; but its placentae meet in the axis and diA-ide the cavity 

 of the ovary into many distinct cells, in which respects it agrees with Sarraceniads ; 

 moreover, the ovules are distributed over the whole surface of the dissepiments, a 

 character proper to Water-lilies. Thus the genus Romneya, whose seeds indeed are 

 unknown, forms a link between all the tlu'ee Orders just mentioned. 



Europe, in all directions, is the principal seat of Poppies, almost two-thirds of the 

 whole Order being found in it. Two species only are, according to De CandoUe, pecu- 

 liar to Siberia, three to China and Japan, one to the Cape of Good Hope, one to New 

 Holland, and six to Tropical America. Several are found in North America, beyond 

 the tropics ; and it is probable that the Order will yet receive many additions from that 

 region. ]Most of them are annuals. The perennials are chiefly natives of mountainous 

 tracts. They are unknown in a wild state within the tropics. 



Every one knows what narcotic properties are possessed by the Poppy, and this cha- 

 racter prevails generally in the Order. The seed is universally oily, and generally in no 

 degree narcotic. The oil obtained fi'om the seeds of Papaver somniferum is found to 

 be perfectly wholesome, and is, in fact, consumed on the Continent in considerable 

 quantity. It is also employed extensively for adulterating olive oil. Its use was at one 

 time proliibited in France by decrees issued in comphanee with popular clamour ; but 

 it is now openly sold, the government and people having both grown wiser. Meconopsis 

 napalensis, a Nipal plant, is described as being extremely poisonous, especially its roots. 

 The Sanguinaria canadensis, or Puccoon, is emetic and purgative in large doses, and in 

 smaller quantities stimulant, diaphoretic, and expectorant. The seeds of Argemone 

 mexicana, called Fico del inferno by the Spaniards, are said to be narcotic, especially if 

 smoked with tobacco, and pm^gative. They are used in the West Indies as a substitute 

 for ipecacuanha ; and the juice is considered by the native doctors of India as a valuable 

 remedy in ophthalmia, dropt into the eye and over the tarsus ; also as a good applica- 

 tion to chancres. It is purgative and deobstruent. The BraziHans administer the juice 

 of this plant, their Cardo santo, to persons or animals bitten by serpents, but, it would 

 appear, without much success. The juice of Chelidonium majus is a riolent acrid poison. 

 It has been regarded officmally as stimulatmg, aperient, diuretic, sudorific, and a power- 

 ful deobstruent. It is a popular remedy for warts, and has been employed successfully 

 in opacities of the cornea. The narcotic principle of opium is an alkahne substance, 

 called Morphia. The same drug contains a pecuUar acid, called the Meconic ; and a 

 vegetable alkah, named Narcotine, to which the unpleasant stimulating properties are 

 attributed by Magendie. To these principles chemists add Codeine, Thebaine or Cara- 

 morphme, Narceine, Meconine, and Comenic and PjTomeconic acids. It is ciu-ious 

 that the native comitry of the Opium Poppy should be miknowii. Homer records its 

 virtues when Gorgythion was wounded in the breast, and oppressed by the weight of his 

 helmet : — 



" firiKwu S' COS erepaStre Koipr] ^dXeu, ^t iv\ Kriircf, 

 KapiTCf fipido^ievf] vorirjcri re elapiinjcriu ' 

 Q)S erepcoa' ijixvae Kapt] irrjKriKi fiapvvOiv.^^ 



Ancient Latin songs r 

 Charlemagne thought 

 Endlicher, who deriv 

 Poppy. 



Bocconia, Plum. 

 Macleaya, R. Br. 

 Sanguinaria, Lin7i. 

 Chelidonium, Tournff. 

 Stylophorum, Nutt. 

 Argemone, Tournef, 

 Ecthrus, Lour. 



ecord its cultivation in the gardens of Tarquinius superbus, and 

 it worthy of a place in Ms Capitularies. See the Encheindion of 

 es Mag or Magei from fxr]Kwv or fxaKwu, the name of the Opium 



GENERA, 



Meconopsis, Vipuier. 



Cerastites, Gray. 

 Papaver, Tournef. 



Calomecon, Spach. 



Mecmiium, Spach. 



Meconidium, Spach. 



Meconella, Spach. 



Rhaadium, Spach. 



Argemonidium, Spach. 

 Closterandra, Belang. 

 Roemeria, Mcdik. 

 Glaucium, Tournef. 

 Eschscholtzia, Cham. 



Chryseis, Talbot. 



FTunnemannia, Sweet. 

 Dendromecon, Benth. 

 Platy stigma, Benth. 

 Meconella, Nutt. 

 Platystemon, Benth. 

 Romneya, Ilarv. 



Numbers. Gen. 18. Sp. 130. 



Position. — Sarraceniaceae. 



Nymj^hceacecB. 

 -Papaverace.e. — Ranunculaceae. 

 Fumariacece. 



