26 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



still further reduce this very limited number, and give the 

 poppy proud pre-eminence, as there is a paleness, a ref ned 

 delicacy of tint, in the red of the pimpernel blossom that 

 will certainly not permit it to cope with the splendid depth 

 of the scarlet of the poppy petals, though it has a beauty 

 of its own that need fear nothing in the ordeal of com- 

 parison. 



The species figured in the plate is the Papaver Rhoeas. 

 It will ordinarily be found fully in flower by the beginning 

 of June ; during that month and the next it will be met 

 with in abundance, and isolated specimens may b9 found 

 pretty freely all through the summer and autumn. It is more 

 especially a plant of the corn-fields, and with the brilliant 

 yellow of the corn-marigold, and the deep blue of the corn- 

 bluebottle, or corn-flower, as it is often more emphatically 

 called, makes a grand show of colour, though one, we can 

 readily imagine, that charms the artistic and botanical taste 

 rather than the agricultural interest. It seems more espe- 

 cially a plant of cultivation, for though it may often be met 

 with on waste ground, rubbish heaps, railway banks, and 

 suchlike spots, it is only found in profusion on the fields 

 of the farmer amidst his corn and peas. It is an annual, 

 and therefore one would imagine easily eradicated by a little 

 timely patience, and more especially as its seeds do not, 

 like those of the dandelion or thistle, get wafted all over 

 the country side by every passing breeze, but the enormous 

 number of seeds produced by each plant, and the ease with 

 which they are shattered from the capsules when ripe, are 

 formidable obstacles in the way of getting rid of it, for 

 if the plants are not immediately destroyed at the first 

 appearance of a blossom, any after-attack on them is 

 almost useless. 



