PLATE XLII. 



1. PAPAVER ORIENTALS. 



EASTERN POPPY. 



Tins genus contains plants of the hardy herbaceous fibrous- 

 rooted annual and perennial kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Polyandria Monogynia, and ranks 

 in the natural order of Rhoeadece. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a two-leaved perianthium, 

 ovate, emarginate: leaflets subovate, concave, obtuse, caducous: 

 the corolla has four roundish petals, flat, spreading, large, narrower 

 at the base ; alternately less : the stamina have numerous fila- 

 ments, capillary, much shorter than the corolla: anthers oblong, 

 compressed, erect, obtuse: the pistillum has a roundish, large germ: 

 style none: stigma peltate, flat, radiate: the pericarpium is a crowned 

 capsule, with the large stigma, one-celled, half-many-celled, open- 

 ing by many holes at the top under the crown: the seeds numerous, 

 very small: receptacles, longitudinal plaits, the same number with 

 the rays of the stigma, fastened to the wall of the pericarpium. 



The species cultivated are : 1. P. Somniferum, White Poppy ; 

 2. P. Rhoeas, Corn or Red Poppy; 3. P. Cambricurn, Welsh Poppy; 

 A- P. Orient ale, Orienlal Poppy. 



The first has the stalks large, smooth, five or six feet high, branch- 

 ing: the leaves large, graj'ish, embracing at the base, irregularly 

 jagged on their sides: the flowers terminating, whilst enclosed in the 

 calyx hanging down, but before the corolla expands becoming erect: 

 the calyx is composed of two large oval grayish leaves, that separate 

 and soon drop oft': the corolla is composed of four large, roundish, 

 white petals, of short duration; and succeeded by large roundish 



