52 POISONOUS PLANTS 



or capsules, when still unripe, taking care not to cut 

 so deep as to penetrate their cavity. The white 

 juice exudes, and appears in the form of tears, on 

 the edges of the incisions; and the night dews 

 favour the exudation of the juice. The field is 

 left in this state for twenty-four hours, after which 

 the juice is scraped off with a small iron scoop or 

 a blunt knife. The operation is never performed 

 more than once on each head. The inspissated 

 juice is then formed into cakes, ready for the 

 market. 



The petals contain the milky juice, so should not 

 be put in the mouth. The seeds, of which there 

 are two kinds, white-skinned, and dark or black- 

 skinned, contain much oil, and have no, or at least 

 a very small trace of opium. They are eaten in 

 some parts of Europe, being made into cakes or 

 strewed upon bread, or in sugar. It is said that 

 the ancients rolled them up in their bread to excite 

 an appetite. Virgil speaks of the poppy as cereale 

 papaver, probably as the wild form {^P. setigerunt) 

 is a cornfield plant. Ceres is always represented 

 as crowned with poppies. Poppy-seed is also given 

 to singing-birds, as *" Maw-seed " when they are 

 moulting. The cake after the oil is expressed is 

 a food for cattle. In 1700, when the oHve crop 

 failed, poppy-seed oil was found to be a good sub- 

 stitute. The seeds are usually regarded as quite 

 harmless ; but there is little doubt that they do 



