94 



THE POPPY FAMILY. 



flower expands ; petals four, white, red, or yellow, never blue, oftenj 

 with a dark spot at the base, generally large and shewy, and often 

 crumpled; stamens thirty to two or three hundred. Ovary single, 

 either one-celled, and ripening into a long and slender pod; or of 

 many cells, in which latter case the stigmas radiate upon the summit, 

 like those of water-lilies, and the fruit is capsular, and urn-shaped 

 or globular. Deducting the genuine poppies, which shew the many- 

 celled capsule to perfection, the pod-like fruit is the predominaat one 

 among the species commonly met with. Figs. 88 and 89 represent 

 the former, in the one case ripe, with the peculiar openings just under 

 the roof, by which the seeds escape, reminding us of the nests of 

 swallows under the eaves ; and in the other immature, and cut in two, 

 so as to shew the carpels and ovules. In the ripe state, the symmetry 

 and true character of the carpels is obscured, as they then appear only 

 as walls, projecting from the margin towards the centre, which is 

 vacant. 



Fig. 87. 

 Flower of Celandine 



Fig. 8n. 



Ripe poppy capsule. 



Fig. 88. 



Unripe poppy capsule, 



cut in two. 



Every one knows the character of the Lethean poppy, the source of 

 opivmi, laudanimi, and morphia ; the same is the character of the family 

 in general, i. e., narcotic and dangerous, the oil of the seeds of the 

 opium-poppy being the only example to the contrary. Some species, 

 as the celandine, are acrid and violently poisonous. Of 1 80 that are 

 known, two-thirds belong to li^urope, and the remainder are scattered 

 indiscriminately over the globe. 



Ten species grow wild in England, and five of them near Man- 

 chester. 



