752 PAPAVER, LCtASS XIII. ORDER I. 



glaucous green, large, oblong, those of the stem sessile, with a cordate 

 base, embracing the stem, and unequally toothed, those towards the 

 base and the radical ones tapering in the lower part, unequally lobed, 

 often cut, and irregularly toothed. Flowers terminal, drooping in the 

 bud, erect when blown, large, mostly of a bluish white, with a rather 

 large dark purplish black spot at the base of each of the four broadly 

 ovate petals^ somewhat creased and waved on the margin. Calyx 

 quite smooth, ovate, concave. iStamens with long Jilaments, somewhat 

 dilated upwards, and bearing oblong two celled anthers^ of two cells, 

 with yellow pollen. Stigmas of numerous rays, deeply lobed and 

 waved on the thin membranous margin. Capsule globose, large, 

 quite smooth, of a glaucous green. Seeds very numerous, oily, with a 

 sweetish flavour. 



Habitat. — Fields and hedges in the Southern Counties of England, 

 where the plant was formerly cultivated, and now become naturalized. 



Annual ; flowering in June and July. 



By cultivation the flowers become of various colours, and also semi- 

 double or double; they are very showy, but exhale an unpleasant 

 odour, which to some persons is extremely unpleasant and productive 

 of head-ache, and sometimes a degree of faintness. 



The while Poppy is found apparently wild with us, as well as in 

 almost all parts of the South of Europe. It would seem to be in 

 these countries, however, a naturalized plant, and to have been ori- 

 ginally a native of Asia, and has gradually become thus extensively 

 distributed, on account of the medicinal virtues of the capsules and 

 the usefulness of the seeds. 



The whole plant, with the exception of the seeds, abounds with a 

 milky fluid, which escapes upon rupturing any part of it ; but is more 

 abundant in the capsule than any other part of the plant, and for the 

 capsules alone is the Poppy cultivated in this country and the Con- 

 tinent. They are gathered as they ripen, and sold to the druggists in 

 bags, containing about 3,000 capsules each. Attempts have been made 

 to cultivate them for the purpose of making opium, but it was found 

 that it could be bought at a cheaper rate from the Levant, &c. than it 

 could be grown with us. The dried capsules are used for the making 

 an extract, which is thought to be advantageously used in the place of 

 opium in some diseases ; but their chief use is for making fomentations, 

 poultices, &;c. for the relief of local inflammations, &c. The seeds 

 which they contain are extremely numerous, each capsule upon an 

 average is said to produce about 32,000 ! They abound with a bland 

 sweet oil, of a nutty flavour, which is expressed and used for domestic 

 purposes as a substitute for olive oil. The seeds of this, as well as 

 other species of Poppy, are said to be used in Poland and some parts 

 of Russia as an ingredient in soup, for the making of gruel, and other 

 domestic porridges; but the principal use of the Poppy is for the 

 valuable secretion which is collected from the capsules of this and 



