It is said to be common in Mexico, and all the 

 islands of the West Indies, where it is a troublesome 

 weed in their cultivated lands, and has been found 

 in a wild state in some of the southern countries 

 of Europe. 



The inspissated juice of the leaves and stems, 

 forms a pigment, in colour between sap green and 

 gamboge, but apparently not more valuable to the 

 artist than a mixture of those substances. It is es- 

 teemed very detersive, and is generally used in dis- 

 eases of the eyes ; but the infusion is looked upon 

 as a sudorific and resolutive, which may be used 

 with success on many occasions. 



The seeds are said to be a much stronger narco- 

 tic than opium. They are thought to be an excel- 

 lent remedy, and are frequently administered by the 

 inhabitants, in the sugar colonies, in diarrhoeas and 

 bloody fluxes. They have a trifling degree of 

 pungency, but it does not manifest itself for some 

 time upon the palate. 



The exterior covering of the seed assumes the ap- 

 pearance of delicate net-work, which becomes more 

 marked and prominent, as they ripen and dry ; and 

 the hilum, or eye, forms a fine seam on one side of 

 it, similar to an artificial enclosure. 



There is no difficulty in cultivating the Argemone 

 Mexicana, as an annual ; excepting, that like many 

 others of the papaveraceous tribe, they are impa- 

 tient of removal. It is better to sow them in a light 

 soil, in the spring, where they are to remain ; and if 

 the seed, when ripe, be scattered from the plants, 

 they will generally vegetate in the spring without 

 further trouble. 



Hort. Kew. 2, v. 3, 290. 



