THE SCARLET POPPY. 27 



The poppy grows some two feet or so in height, the 

 stems are firm and erect, covered with stiff, bristle-like 

 hairs, and a good deal branched. The lower leaves are of 

 considerable size, very graceful in form and curve, and 

 borne on long stalks ; the upper leaves are sessile, i.e., 

 springing direct from the main stems, stalkless. The 

 flowers are rich scarlet, each petal at its base having 

 ordinarily a darker purple spot or blotch that is only 

 visible when the position of the flower is such that the eye 

 looks directly into it. The flower has four petals, but, 

 unlike most plants, appears to have no calyx, a feature that 

 proves rather puzzling to the novice. If, however, the 

 opening bud be noticed, the green calyx is evident enough ; 

 the sepals fall away as the flower expands and their pro- 

 tective agency is no longer required. The stamens are very 

 numerous, and form a large dark ring round the stigma, 

 the central organ. The stigma crowning the globose mass 

 of the style is beautifully rayed in form, and forms the very 

 conspicuous wheel-like object in the centre of the flower. 

 The capsule or fruit which succeeds the blossom is globular 

 in form, and still preserves at its summit the stigmatic 

 rays. The numerous seeds within the capsule escape, when 

 it is shaken at all strongly, by the ring of small openings 

 beneath the stigma. 



Attempts have been made to utilise the brilliant red 

 of the petals as a dye, but the colour, as is so often 

 the case in vegetable products, has proved too fugitive to 

 be of any value. In medicine, however, the petals have 

 long been employed to give a colouring matter. The syrup 

 produced is very slightly narcotic in effect ; its real service 

 is to render agreeable to the eye any potion that would 

 otherwise awaken a prejudice against- it on the score of 



