THE OPIUM POPPY 



of little wrinkles or puckers as if three or four fine cambrick 

 handkerchifs [sic] were thrust into one's pocket," as an old 

 writer describes it (Grew). 



Bees, and especially bumbles, are extremely fond of it, and 

 even seem to be, in a way, opium-eaters, for they get quite 

 exalted, almost intoxicated, and above their ordinary labor- 

 ious selves. They scurry round and round the flower under 

 the stamens or hover excitedly above it. 



It is at this stage that the opium-gatherer begins his work ; 

 he goes round the beds and collects the petals of the poppy 

 to use later on (see p. 304). The poppy-heads are then half 

 grown and bluish-green, but they soon begin to turn yellow 

 and ripen. When ripe they are most interesting to examine. 

 There is a large platform covered by a radiating star-like 

 ornament, which is the stigma. Underneath this is a circle 

 o£ little holes just below the crown, but above the head. 

 Each small hole has a flap. Now if you gather a ripe poppy- 

 head on a fine dry day all these holes are open, and if you 

 hold it upright and swing it vigorously from side to side the 

 tiny seeds come flying out of the holes and will be thrown to 

 a considerable distance. The stalk is supposed to swing in a 

 high wind, and the seeds are really slung or thrown out of the 

 holes. But if, when you come home, you put your poppy- 

 head in water, or look at the plants in the garden on a very 

 wet day, you will find that every hole closes or is shut up, 

 because the small door mentioned above expands so as to 

 close the opening. 



The seeds are only sent out on a fine dry day ; but they 

 travel well. It was observed in America that certain poppies 

 had been introduced as weeds at a certain place ; in fifteen 

 years they were found twenty-five miles farther on, so that 

 they were colonizing the country at the rate of three-fifths of 



303 



