BUTTERCUPS 223 



poppies, the P. Argemone and the P. dubium, the capsules 

 are not globular, but elongated. The capsules, ere they are 

 fully ripe and hardened into a crisp, dry condition, contain 

 a good deal of milky juice, as we find on making our 

 section. Were it not that the quantity yielded is too 

 small to repay cultivation, these poppy-heads would furnish 

 us with British-grown opium. 



The petals of the poppy are particularly fugitive ; if 

 the flowers be gathered they soon lose their charm, many 

 of the petals shattering at once/ and the others quickly 

 withering. 



BUTTERCUPS (Ranunculus Acris) 



The fruits of the various species of Buttercup are 

 interesting in form, and will repay some little observation. 

 While all are built up on the same general idea, there 

 is a very interesting variation of detail. The idea of 

 gathering fruit from buttercups may appear somewhat 

 chimerical ; had we said blackberries instead of buttercups 

 one could have better entertained the thought. In popular 

 language the word fruit suggests the idea of something 

 juicy and tempting-looking, while some would limit their 

 use of the term yet more, and practically insist that a fruit 

 must be something edible. In truth, however, whatever 

 seed-bearing form succeeds the flower is a fruit, a pea-pod 

 or a vegetable marrow as much as an apple, a dry, untempt- 



' Pleasures are like poppies spread, 

 You seize the flower, its bloom to shed. 



Burns. 



