THE POPPY FAMILY 



3* If the Fruit is cut across (fig. 5, 3), the structure is 

 easily seen. There are numerous walls inside, like the radii of 

 a circle, which, however, do not quite join in the centre, and it 

 is on these walls that the seeds grow, until they are ripe when 

 they drop off into the space between the walls. In order to let 

 them escape from the capsule (as the fruit is called), little 

 windows open all round the top just below the stigma (fig. 5, 5; 



Fig. 5.— 1. Opium Popjoy (Papaver somniferum). 



2. Diagram of flower. 3. Transverse and 4. vertical section 



of ovary. 5. Ripe capsule. 6. and 8. Seed, 7. Stamen. 



poricidal!) and if the plant is shaken by the wind, the tiny 

 seeds are thrown about in all directions. Bend down one of 

 the ripe capsules and let it go, and you Avill see what happens. 

 We now see also why the stalk is tall and springy, as the 

 higher the seeds are from the ground the further will they be 

 scattered. 



