POPPY TPJBE 33 



Order IV. PAPAVERACE^— POPPY TRIBE. 



Sepals 2, soon falling off; petals 4; ovary 1. Stigma rayed, or lobed ; 

 capsule 1 -celled, many-seeded ; seeds inserted on incomplete partitions, which 

 radiate from the sides of the seed-vessel, but do not meet at the centre. Her- 

 baceous plants, many of which are the pest of the corn-fields, and have been 

 disseminated with grain all over the world. They all possess, in a greater 

 or less degree, a narcotic principle, which renders some very valuable as 

 medicines ; and the seeds of all the British species contain a mild and whole- 

 some oil. 



1. FOFFY (Fapdvcr). — Stigma sessile, rayed; capsule opening by valves 

 beneath the stigma. Name from Papa, the Celtic word for pap, because given 

 to infants with their food as a narcotic. 



2. Welsh Poppy (Mecondpsis). — Style short; stigma of few rays; capsule 

 opening by valves below the style. Name from the Greek words mekon, poppy, 

 and opsis, a resemblance. 



3. Horned Poppy (Glailcium). —Stigma 2-lobed; capsule pod-like, 2-celled, 

 2-valved. Named from the glaucous or sea-green hue of its foliage. 



4. Celandine (Cheliddnimn). — Stigma 2-lobed ; capsule pod-like, 1-celled, 

 2-valved ; seeds crested. Named from Chelidon, a swallow ; probably because 

 it flowers at the time of the coming of that bird. 



1, Poppy (Fapdver). 

 * Capsules hristUj. 



1. Long Rough-headed Poppy (P. argemdne). — Capsule club-shaped ; 

 bristles erect ; stem leafy ; leaves twice pinnatifid. Plant annual. This is a 

 common flower in our corn-fields, during June and July ; and though neither 

 so large nor so richly coloured as the common Scarlet Poppy, is a conspicuous 

 object among corn. The petals are of somewhat pale scarlet, with a black 

 spot at their base. The name of Argemone, from argos, slothful, was formerly 

 given on account of the narcotic efl'ect of the Poppy ; and there is still a genus 

 called by that name, though we have no British species belonging to it. Our 

 Rough-headed Poppy has the narcotic principle in its capsules ; and Burnett 

 says that even the foliage partakes of it in some degree, and that it is some- 

 times boiled and eaten. The Mexican Argemdne, which is an allied plant, is 

 called by the Spaniards Fico del Inferno, on account of its powerfully narcotic 

 eflfects, and the prickly capsule, which renders it so troublesome a weed ; and 

 they use it as a cure for ophthalmia, and extract from its seeds an oil, with 

 which they polish their furniture. It is used by the native doctors of India 

 as a substitute for ipecacuanha. 



Our readers unaccustomed to botanical investigations, but who often see 

 the countless thousands of brilliant Poppies colouring the fields, woukl be 

 surprised to find that they are not truly indigenous to our soil. There is not 

 a doubt that we owe many of our apparently wild flowers to the cultivation 

 of the land, since we find them only on cultivated spots ; and that if the land 

 Avere long left neglected, they would gradually disappear from it. " When," 

 says Professor Henslow, " I mention our common field Poppies as not exempted 

 from all suspicion of an exotic origin, it will be supposed that I am stating an 



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