ANNUAL POPPIES. 



leaves pale green, long, wavy, clasping, 

 quite smooth, not bristly. Flowers 

 large, from three to five inches across ; 

 white, cream, rose, white with pink 

 edge, etc. ; petals not fringed ; stamens 

 very numerous, cream colored ; a hand- 

 some flower, worthy of more general 

 cultivation. 



P. soiiini/eriiiii, var Daiiebrog — Dan- 

 ish Flag Poppy. — The ^'ictoria Cross of 

 some catalogues, is exactly the same as 

 the type in plant and leaves ; the flow- 

 ers are not so large ; petals fringed, 

 light scarlet with a white blotch at the 

 base of each petal, making the form of 

 a cross. 



P. Rhaas — The common Field Pop- 

 py of Britain.— Plant, many-flowered, a 

 foot or more high, scabrous with many 

 bristles ; leaves pinnately parted, lobes 

 deeply toothed ; flowers on long thin 

 stalks, two to four inches across, bright 

 scarlet with dark colored stamens ; a 

 handsome flower, not much grown now, 

 being supplanted by its more beautiful 

 relative. 



P. Rhaas var Shirley. — The most 

 beautiful of all poppies ; in plant and 

 habit of growth, the same as the type, 

 but the flowers are of the most delicate 

 silky te.xture and in every imaginable 

 shade and combination of white, pink, 

 and red, with yellow anthers. Unfor- 

 tunately, they are very evanescent, and 

 only last a short time if picked after the 

 sun shines on them ; but if picked early 

 in the morning, as soon as they open, 

 will keep fresh for a day or two in the 

 house. 



Majestic and Hooker's ever- blooming 

 as grown by me from Henderson's seed, 

 were nothing but rather poor strains of 

 Shirley. 



P. Rhivas var, umbrosum. — The Fire 

 Dragon of some catalogues ; has most 

 intense dark cardinal flowers, each petal 

 with a jet black blotch at the base, with 



dark stamens about the same size as the 

 Shirley. 



Papaver Uevigatum — Persian Poppy. 

 — In general appearance the plant is 

 very like umbrosum, not quite so ro- 

 bust, nor as bristly. The flowers are 

 about the same color, but the black 

 blotches are margined with white and 

 the petals are more upright, not opening 

 out so flat as in P. Rhceas. 



Papaver glaucum — Tulip Poppy. — A 

 very distinct species ; the plant is a weak, 

 spindly grower, particularly if planted 

 thickly ; leaves pale green, shaped as in 

 P. Rhceas but not at all bristly, not so 

 pale in color nor as glaucus as P. som- 

 niferum. Flowers of an intense brilliant 

 cardinal, — the finest red in the family — 

 without dark base, the outer petals much 

 larger than the inner and overlapping at 

 the edges, stand more erect than any 

 other poppy, giving it the appearance of 

 a tulip. The seed does not germinate 

 as freely or as quickly as the other spe- 

 cies. 



Among the double poppies the finest 

 are those derived from the Opium pof)- 

 py ; the oldest form is P. somniferum 

 Paeonucflorum or Peony flowered poppy, 

 a large handsome flower 4 to 5 ins. 

 across, very double, a large number of 

 the stamens being converted into nar- 

 row petals i^ to 1/2 in. wide, tapering to 

 the base and rounded at the outside end, 

 generally more or less twisted, giving 

 the flower a fluffy, peony-like look. 

 They can be had in a great range of 

 colors, from pure white to the darkest 

 red and purple. If planted too thickly 

 or grown in poor soil the flowers are 

 much smaller and only semi- double. 

 Among the newer colors Salmon-rose is 

 a lovely flower of finest form and color, 

 the so-called Nankin Yellow is not a 

 yellow, only a dark cream color ; there 

 is no yellow in the Annual poppies. 



P. somniferum fimhriatum — some- 



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