S4 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
Capsule ovoid, or in the cultivated form globular-depressed, in- 
dehiscent. Rays of the stigmatic disk spreading, slightly incurved 
at the apex. Seeds white. 
Occasionally found in waste places, but has no claim to be 
considered even as naturalized. There is a specimen in the British 
Museum from Battersea meadows, collected by the late Mr. E. 
Forster. Possibly some of the stations recorded for ‘* P. somni- 
ferum’”’ belong to P. officinale. 
[England.| Annual. Late Summer. 
Very similar to P. hortense, but larger in all its parts. Leaves 
of a yellower green, much less glaucous, and with the teeth closer 
and smaller in proportion to the size of the leaf and its lobes than 
in that sub-species. Flowers 4 to 7 inches in diameter, pure white, 
without any spot at the base of the petals. Capsule in this country 
ovoid (even when raised from the seed of the foreign variety with 
depressed capsules), 2 to 3 inches long, more leathery in texture 
than that of P. hortense. 
Besides these two sub-species, P. somniferum includes a third, 
which occurs in the South of Europe, Madeira, etc. This is 
P. setigerum (D.C. Fl. Fr. Vol. V. p. 585; Gr. & Godr, Fl. de Pr. 
Vol. I. p. 38; and Lowe, Man. Fl. of Madeira, p. 11, where a very 
excellent description of it is given). It differs from the two prece- 
ding sub-species in being dull smoky green, scarcely glaucous, with 
many more stiff hairs on the peduncles, calyx, and leaves, and in the 
capsule being oblong, pear-shaped, and scarcely stipitate. 
Sleepbearing Poppy, Garden Poppy, White Poppy, 
Opium Poppy. 
French, Pavot Somnifére. German, Gartenmohn, Maysamen, Oelmagen. 
The specific name Somniferum is applied to this plant on account of its narcotic 
properties. There appears to be good reason to believe that of the two sub-species of 
Papaver somniferum, P. hortense is the origin of the Garden Poppies, and P. officinale the 
true cultivated Opium Poppy, which is but rarely met with wild in Great Britain,’ This 
Poppy is valuable for its juice, which, when extracted and dried, forms opium ; and for its 
capsules or seed-vessels, known as Poppy-heads. The whole of the plant, excepting the 
seeds, partakes of the well-known narcotic properties, and abounds in a white milky juice, 
which has a heavy nauseous smell. The seeds seem to be innocuous, and have been used as 
food. In Persia and some parts of Germany they are sprinkled over rice and wheaten 
cakes, and are considered agreeable. They are also sent to table mixed with honey. This 
appears to be a practice of great antiquity. Gerarde, quoting Galen, says, “This seed 
is good to season bread with ; it is often used in comfits, served at the table with other 
junketing dishes.” Cage birds are largely fed on these seeds, under the name of maw 
seeds. The largest quantity of the narcotic substance is yielded by the capsules of the 
plant, and for this purpose it is chiefly cultivated, both in this and other countries. 
