VII. PAPAVEEACB^. 27 



hypogynous, concave. Petals 4, large, crumpled, 2-seriate. Stameus 

 very mauy; filaments slender; anthers erect, slits lateral. Ovary 

 1-celled or 2-4-celled by the produced placentas ; ovules many-seriate, 

 parietal, anatropous; style short or 0; stigmas radiating, connate and 

 opposite the placentas or free and alternating with them. Carpels 

 dehiscing by pores or valves. Seeds many, small ; albumen oily and 

 fleshy; embryo minute, 2-lobed or 2-fid.— Distrib. N. temperate "zone ; 

 species about 65. 



1. ARGEMONE, Linn. 

 Branching, glaucescent herbs with yellow juice. Leaves iuciso-pin- 

 natifid, usually spinoso-dentate or rigidly setose. Flowers handsome, 

 terminal, white or yellow ; buds usually erect. Sepals 2-3. Petals 

 4-6. Stamens indefinite. Ovary 1-celled; ovules many, on 4-7 

 parietal, filiform placentas; style scarcely any: stigma 4-7-lobed. 

 Capsule oblong, short, dehiscing at top by short valves alternating with 

 the stigmas and placentas. Seeds many, sci'obicnlate, not crested. — 

 DiSTEiB. American plants, of which one, Argemone mexicana, has been 

 naturalized in India. 



1. Argemone mexicana, Linn. Sp. PI. (1753) p. 508. A prickly 

 herb 2-4 ft. high, divaricately branched. Leaves sessile, ^-amplexicaul, 

 variegated with white, 3-6 by 1-2| in., siuuato-pinnatifid ; the segments 

 inciso-dentate, spiny on the margins, the midi-ib and the veins beneath, 

 lower surface very pale ; prickles very sharp, yellow. Flowers 1-3 in. 

 across ; peduncles prickly. Sepals 2-3, concave, nearly valvate in aesti- 

 vation, prickly outside, horned at the apex, very caducous. Petals 1- 

 1| in. long, twice as many (4-6) as the sepals, imbricate in 2 series, 

 more or less crumpled in aestivation, obovate, cuneiform, yellow with 

 darker parallel veins, deciduous ; bracts foliaceous. Ovary covered with 

 soft spines ; stigma red. Capsules |-1| in. long, oblong or elliptic, 

 prickly, rarely unarmed. Seeds blackish-brown, deeply reticulato-scro- 

 biculate. PL B. I. v. 1, p. 117 ; Grab. Cat. p. 6 ; Dalz. & Gibs. Suppl. 

 p. 3 ; Bot. Mag. (1794) v. 7, t. 243 ; Asa Gray & Sprague, Gen. PL U. 

 States, V. 1, p. Ill, t. 47; AVoodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 11 (1897) 

 p. 121 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 1, p. 306.— Flowers all the year. 

 VekjS'. Pivala-dholara. — Distrib. Tropical America, but naturalized in 

 most warm countries. 



The plant has been widely established, and is to be met with along roadsides and as 

 a weed in cultivated fields throughout India. The yellow juice is used medicinally by 

 the natives and oil is expressed from the seeds. 



Order VIII. FUMARIACE^. 



Annual or perennial herbs with watery juice. Leaves alternate, 

 usually divided ; segments not jointed. Flowers small, racemed, herma- 

 phrodite. Sepals 2, scale-hke, deciduous. Petals 4, in dissimilar pairs; 

 the 2 outer larger, one or both gibbous or spurred ; the two inner 

 smaller, erect, tips often cohering. Stamens 6, in two bundles opposite 

 the outer petals ; anther of central stamen in each bundle 2-celled, of 

 lateral stamens 1-celled. Ovary 1-ceUed; ovules 2 or more, ampliitropous, 

 parietal ; stigma obtuse or lobed. Fruit a 2-valved, many-seeded capsule 



