APPENDIX. 



M. Morsheaclii. See under M. impedUa. 



M. Prattii admits a further note, in reference to my journey of 1915, and 

 the distribution of M. racemosa, q.v. It is M. Prattii and M. Prattii alone of 

 the Prickly Group (unless F 735 does indeed prove, as I hope, a new species) 

 that occupies the Da-Tung Alps and the regions above Chebson Abbey, some- 

 what vaguely given as the source of the original specimen on which M. race- 

 mosa was based. And in the Da-Tung, M. Prattii is not so saxatile as in the 

 Min S'an, but abounds in the open alpine turf at great elevations, with flowers 

 of richest azure but a rather flimsy habit. In the rocks it also grows, however ; 

 and in one place 3 beautiful rose-coloured forms appeared, and in another an 

 albino, of dingy and unattractive tone. Few things could be more beauti- 

 ful than the high passes in August, when all ablaze with clouds of violet 

 Delphinium, from which in serried myriads rise the azure spires of M. Prattii. 

 Single radical flower-stems occur sometimes in this species round the base 

 of the main stem, and in the Min S'an Alps it takes a form with very long 

 pedicels, which may conceivably be another species. 



M. Psilonomma, another of my own jewels, will be found in the same Appendix 

 with M. lepida. It has lamentably failed in cultivation. 



M. quintuplinervia evidently has its centre of distribution in the Da-Tung 

 Alps, where it is of an abundance and a beauty quite stupefying, all over 

 the high lawns. Variations are very rare, but I have seen six-petalled forms, 

 and three times found the most beautiful albinoes : one slope yielded tones of 

 vinous mauve, and there is a development of extreme loveliness, in which the 

 flower is a soft clear turquoise, with only the faintest iridescent suggestion of 

 lavender remaining. 



The Petrograd specimens include, with the true M. quintuplinervia, many 

 sheets of a quite different Poppy from the Szechuan March — a beautiful 

 biennial of the Primulina Group, recalling M. Psilonomma, but hairier and with 

 several (and even many) flowers on the scape. 



M. racemosa may always be known from M. Prattii by its golden, instead 

 of creamy, anthers. It seems that one specific name ought to include M. horri- 

 dula and M. racemosa as fluctuating forms of a single species. The original 

 specimen on which Maximowicz based M. racemosa is said to be labelled as 

 coming from Chebson (Chobsen) Abbey on the Western foothills of the Da- 

 Tung Alps. But, in examining the specimens of M. racemosa in the Petrograd 

 Herbarium, I was not able to find any indication of this locality, all those given 

 referring to the ranges south and west of Sining, and away to the Koko-nor. 

 This exactly bears out my own experience : in the Da- Tung Alps I never saw 

 a sign of M. racemosa, the prevailing Poppy of the high grass and shingles 

 being exclusively M. Prattii, while Chebson Abbey could in no case be the 

 haunt of any Prickly Poppy at all, sheltering as it does in the green foothills, 

 some 4 to 6 miles distant from the great Alps behind. On the other hand, the 

 Poppy brought back by Purdom from the ranges of Kweite and the Koko-nor, 

 was unmistakably and universally the genuine M. racemosa, darker-blue in 

 colouring, and golden anthered, in forms as often as not reverting wholly or 



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