KUMirom' 99 



sviiilml of slrrp aiul ilcuh. I'lic liculs were oiicc slcc])C(l in wine 

 and usL-il to iiukicc sleep. The jjctals are still (.•niployt-il lo colour 

 medicines. 0\viii;4' to ihe ([uaiuiu of the seeds C\bele, inolher of 

 the gods, is represented as crowned with poppy-heads. 



This poppy is cultivated as a garden flower, both single and double 

 varieties being known. 



The juice is eniplovcd lo form a sedative medicine. It was used 

 in love divination, the leaf being prophetic. h was sacred to \ enus. 

 St. Margaret's Dav (|ul\ 20) was celebrated in connection witli the 

 vanquished Dragon. 



ro|)pies a sanguine mantle spread 



For the blood of the Dragon lliat Margaret shed. 



Essential Si'Ecimc Cii.\k.\cti;rs: - 



18. Papavcr Rharas, L. — Stem hispid, bristles [)atent, many-llowered, 

 leaves sessile, pinnatifid, llower scarlet, large, black at the limb, capsule 

 globose, smooth, hlaments subtilate. 



Fumitory (Earth-smoke) (I'mnaria officinalis, L.) 



Seeds have been found with flax seeds and weetls of cultivation 

 m Neolithic deposits. Fumitory is confined to the Warm Temperate 

 Zone, and is foimd in b'urope, X. Africa, W. Asia, and has been 

 introduced into the I'nited States. It is absent from the following 

 counties in Great Britain, but common elsewhere, vi/. : .S. Lines, 

 Main Argyle, X. Ebudes; and it ascends up to 1000 ft. in the north 

 of England. It occurs in Ireland and the Channel Islands. By 

 Watson it was regarded as a colonist. 



The I^arth-smoke is so constant an accompaniment of the growing 

 grain that a cornfield would hardly be complete without it, and the 

 widespread character of its distribution shows the length of its estab- 

 lishment, did not its occurrence in Neolithic deposits, with other weeds 

 of waste ground, testify to this. It grows in the furrows, or around 

 the borders, of wheatfields, associated with Corn Marigokl, Corn .Sow 

 Thistle, Sherardia, and the usual j)lants of arable land, which wander 

 afield to waste places around the straw-stack, farmyard, or mill. 



The connection between this plant and Climbing Fumitory is seen 

 in its spreading, not erect, habit, the principal stem which gives rise 

 to others being weak and trailing over the surface if very long The 

 joints are swollen to add strength on this account, as the plant is 

 tender and the stem is more or less wavv. 



