THALAMIFLOR^ 83 



pressed to the stalk. The leaves are deeply divided to 

 the base, with rather remote, broad, and blunt lobes. 



The flowers are large, pale red, with the four 

 petals in two pairs, which are transversely oval, 

 unequal. There are two sepals, which fall in the 

 bud. The flowers are borne on very long stalks, and 

 are terminal. The petals in bud are crumpled up. 

 The stamens are numerous. The anther-stalks are 

 awl-shaped. The disc of the stigma has a spreading 

 edge, with 6-12 rays. The ovary is one-celled, but 

 divided into more or less closed chambers, with 

 parietal placentae, or cushions, and contains many 

 seeds. The capsule is inversely ovoid, oblong or 

 club-shaped, narrower below, and is not bristly, but 

 smooth ; hence another name — Smooth-headed Poppy. 



Like the other Poppies this one is a herbaceous 

 annual, flowering between May and July, and is from 

 one to two feet in height. 



The Poppies are all pollen-flowers, and contain no 

 honey. The anthers are ripe in advance of the 

 stigma. Some pollen falls on the stigma whilst the 

 flower is in bud in the Common Red Poppy, but as 

 the stigma is taller than the anthers in this species 

 the flower is not self-pollinated, but cross-pollinated. 



The fruit is a capsule which opens above by pores, 

 forming a pepper-box arrangement, the stigma cover- 

 ing the seeds above and protecting them from rain. 

 When the flower-stalk is agitated by the wind the 

 seeds are jerked out of the pores and scattered to a 

 distance. The seeds are oily and albuminous. 



