ESCAPED FROM GARDENS 



I. White Poppy 



Papaver somnfferum. — JFami/y, Poppy. Co/or, white or 

 bluish purple. Leaves, alternate, divided, clasping, cut, and 

 toothed. Time, late spring and summer. 



Sepals, 2, thin, falling after the flower appears. Petals, 4. 

 Numerous stattiens. Style short, and stigma broad, overhang- 

 ing the ovary. 



Fruit, I inch in diameter, opening by chinks under the edge 

 of the stigma. Stem, from i to 3 feet high, somewhat hairy. 

 Buds droop on the stem ; "the flower is erect. 



This is the opium poppy, cultivated so largely in Turkey and 

 India. 



The part of the plant used in commerce is the milky juice 

 which exudes from the capsules. These are carefully cut in the 

 evening, and the juice is collected next morning. When suf- 

 ficient liquid has been gathered on one dish, it is drained and 

 evaporated, made into round balls, and placed on slats to dry. 

 The opium balls are then ready for market. 



Opium contains morphine, narcotine, codeine, thebaine, pa- 

 paverine, etc. Its use in medicine is well known. The Romans 

 understood its medicinal properties. Vergil speaks of the plant, 

 and of its sleep-producing capacities. 



The export of opium from India into China is over 14,000,000 

 pounds every year. The Chinese government has strenuously 

 opposed the excessive importation, but has been forced to sub- 



