196 PLINy' 3 NATURAL HISTOliT. [Book XIX. 



ating laser, is also a garden plant, but is only employed for 

 medicinal purposes. 



CHAP. 53. THE POPPY. 



There are certain plants wliich are grown in company* with 

 others, the poppy, for instance, sown with cabbages and purs- 

 lain, and rocket w^ith lettuce. Of the cultivated poppy^ there 

 are three kinds, the first being the white^ poppy? the seed of 

 wiiich, parched, and mixed wdth honey, used to be served up 

 in the second course at the tables of the ancients ; at the pre- 

 sent day, too, the country people sprinkle it on the upper crust 

 of their bread, making it adhere by means of the yolk of eggs, 

 the under crust being seasoned with parsley and gith to 

 heighten the flavour of the flour. The second kind is the 

 black'* poppy, from which, upon an incision being made in the 

 stalk, a milky juice distils ; and the third is that known to the 

 Greeks by the name of "rhoeas;"^ and by us as the wild 

 poppy. This last grows spontaneously, but in fields, more 

 particularly, which have been sown with barley : it bears a 

 strong resemblance to rocket, grows to the height of a cubit, 

 and bears a red flower, which quickly fades ; it is to this 

 flower that it is indebted for its Greek name.^ 



As to the other kinds of poppies which spring up sponta- 

 neously, we shall have occasion to speak of them when treat- 

 ing of the medicinal plants.' That the poppy has always been 

 held in esteem among the Eomans, we have a proof in the 

 story related of Tarquinius® Superbus, who, by striking down 

 the tallest poppies in his garden, surreptitiously conveyed, 



^ This practice, as Fee remarks, is not followed ; and indeed, unless it 

 is intended to transplant them, it would be attended with injurious results 

 to the young plants. 



2 As tc the poppy, for further particulars see B. xx. c. 76 and the Note. 



' Tlie variety Album of the Papaver somniferum of modern botanists. 



* The variety Nigrum of the Papaver somniferum. The white poppy 

 has also a milky juice. 



^ The Papaver rhooas of modern botanists, the corn-poppy, or wild 

 poppy. The seed of the poppy does not partake of the qualitios of its 

 capsular envelope, and at the present day it is extensively employed in 

 the South of Europe for sprinkling over pastry. 



6 " Rhoeas," the " crimson," or "pomegranate" poppy. 



' See B. XX. cc. 76 — 79. 



«* See c. 17 of this Book, also Ovid's Fasti, B. ii. 1. 703, et seq. 



