376 



THE POPULAE EDUCATOR 



LESSONS IN BOTANY. XII. 



THE reader will now begin to understand the general principles 

 on which a natural classification of vegetables is effected. In 

 the first place, we divide them into cryptogamic and phcenoga- 

 mous ; then we divide the latter into endogenous 

 and exogenous. Next we proceed to establish 

 orders, from a consideration of such characteristics 

 as the position of stamens, nature of fruit, cha- 

 racter of seed ; and, as we have already seen, we 

 usually give to each order a name derived from 

 some leading genus or sub-division. Thus, our 

 principal genus in the Ranunculus order is the 

 Eanunculus or Crowfoot ; hence the generic name 

 Ranunculaceas is given ; and we subdivide this 

 genus into species by the addition of terms which 

 consideration will render obvious. For example, 

 there is one species of Ranunculus which is more 

 poisonous than the rest ; botanists, therefore, 

 apply to this species the appellation of wicked, 

 or sceleratus ; hence, when the expression Ranun- 

 culus sceleratus is met with, the reader is made 

 acquainted with the following facts in the follow- 

 ing order : The plant is a flowering plant, is an 

 exogenous plant, belongs to the order of Ranun- 

 culacese, to the genus Ranunculus, and is a 

 member of the species designated sceleratus. 



More than one poisonous principle abounds in the 

 Ranunculacese, but of these the alkali, termed by chemists aconi- 

 tine, is the most violent. It is a white substance, something like 

 flour to look at, and so frightfully poisonous that the twentieth 

 part of a grain, or even less, is a fatal dose. Of all the various 



126. CAPSULE OP THE POPPY. 



sometimes prolonged into vertical plates, at other times filiform ; 

 fruit, capsular ; seed, dicotyledonous and albuminous. 



Such are the botanical characteristics of this natural order 

 succinctly expressed. Some of the terms employed the reader 

 will understand ; but those which have not come under his 

 notice before, we will explain before we proceed. 

 The first new word that requires explanation is 

 caducus, used to describe the peculiarity of the 

 sepals. These the reader will remember are the 

 component parts of the calyx, and form the green 

 envelope of the poppy-bud which bursts asunder 

 when the flower is ready to open. Soon after the 

 flower has opened the sepals fall off, and for this 

 reason they are called caducous, from the Latin 

 caducus, which is derived from cado, to fall. 

 Estivation is the manner in which the sepals and 

 petals are fitted together before the flower expands, 

 from the Latin (estiva, summer quarters. Here 

 they overlap each other, as one tile laps over another 

 on the roof of a house. The Latin for a gutter-tile 

 or roof -tile is imbrex, so all that is meant by the 

 term imbricated in aestivation is, that before the 

 flower expands the sepals or petals overlap each 

 other at the edges. The ovary or seed-vessel is 

 termed unilocular because it is " one-celled," or 

 has only one cell, from the Latin unus, one, and 

 loculus, a cell, the diminutive of locus, a place. In 

 the fruit are found the parts to which the seeds are 

 attached, which are called placentas. These placentas are 

 flattened, and derive their name from the Greek irAa|, genitive 

 TrAaKos fplax, plak'-os), a term applied to anything flat, such as 

 a plate or flat cake. They grow out or project from the inside 



species of aconitum, that termed Aconitiim ferox is the most ; of the ovary, or as it were from the wall of the ovary, therefore 

 dangerous. This plant grows in the Himalaya Mountains, and | they are called parietal, from the Latin paries, a wall, 

 was on one occasion used by the Nepaulese as a means of ridding j The reader may provide himself with a red corn-poppy as a 

 themselves of us, their invaders. A few leaves of this Aconiturn \ specimen of the flower, and a white poppy- capsule, procurable 

 ferox being thrown into a well, poisoned all the water to such j at the druggist's, as a sample of the fruit. Like buttercups, 



an extent that men or beasts drinking 

 of it were almost infallibly killed. 



Many of the most beautiful and 

 striking flowers in our gardens belong 

 to the order of Ranunculaceaa. In 

 our last lesson we mentioned some 

 of these the Hepaticas ; the Lark- 

 spurs, short and tall ; and the Delphi- 

 niums of all shades and tints of blue, 

 from the brilliant azure of the Del- 

 phinium cceruZescenstothedark indigo 

 tint of the Delphinium grandiflorum. 



Anemones, those pretty flowers with 

 their variously-coloured petals and 

 drooping flowers these, too, belong 

 to the order of Ranunculacese, as also 

 do. the large showy peonies and the 

 Monk's Hoods or Aconites, flowers 

 which have also the characteristics 

 of the Ranunculaceas, as the student 

 who examines them will not fail to 

 recognise. 



Our space does not admit of more 

 being said concerning the order Ra- 

 nunculacese. We must conclude, 

 therefore, by stating that their fruits 

 are denominated by b otanists achosnia, 

 or follicles, terms which have been 

 explained in a former lesson. 

 SECTION XXII. PAPAVERACE.3:, 

 OR THE POPPY TBIBE. 



Let us now commence the study 

 of another natural order, the Papave- 

 racese, or Poppy Tribe, bearing some 

 affinity to the order Ranunculacese, 

 but differing from it by certain characteristic signs, which are 

 described in botanical phraseology as follows : 



Characters : Sepals two, rarely three, caducous ; petals 

 hypogynous ; their number double or quadruple that of the 

 eepals; imbricated and crumpled in aestivation ; stamens 

 Numerous, hypogynous ; ovary unilocular, placentas parietal, 



127. THE DOUBLE POPPY. 



poppies will be seen on examination 

 to have a great number of stamens ; 

 these stamens, moreover, are below 

 the carpels, or are hypogynous. Thus 

 far, the resemblance of the Poppy 

 tribe to the Ranunculus tribe is com- 

 plete. But when we come to examine 

 the fruit, what a difference is there ! 

 In the Ranunculaceos the carpels re- 

 main distinct, and the fruit is, owing- 

 to that circumstance, denominated 

 apocarpous; in the Papaveracece the 

 carpels unite together and constitute 

 one capsule, the poppy-head of the 

 shops. This, then, is the grand broad 

 distinction between the two natural 

 orders. The carpels have all grown 

 into one common ovary, but what has 

 become of the stigma or upper expan- 

 sion of the styles ? These may be 

 seen at the extremity of the poppy 

 capsule, as represented in the accom- 

 panying diagram (Fig. 126) where 

 they may be observed forming a sort 

 of crown. If the capsule be now- 

 opened it will be found to consist 

 of one cell, into which numerous little 

 flattened plates project ; the latter 

 are termed placentas or placentas, a 

 term of which a full explanation has 

 already been given above ; they are 

 the parts of the fruit which give 

 attachmert to the seeds. 



Such are the mechanical condi- 

 tions, if we may so term them, 



in which the Papaveracece differ from the Ranunculacecc ; but 

 there is a well-marked physiological difference also. Plants 

 belonging to the Ranunculus tribe are supplied with a watery, 

 acrid, poisonous juice ; whereas in plants of the Poppy tribe the 

 juice is milky, and usually contains opium. The substance 

 known as opium in the shops is derived from the white poppy, 



