130 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



rough embrace, and been its life and stay. It is in such 

 an uninviting spot as this that the yellow horned-poppy, 

 the plant represented in the present plate, is seen in 

 perfection, growing in great tufts among the stones of the 

 beach, or finding a home in some crevice of the rock, 

 recalling to our minds the fine poetic imagery of one of the 

 greatest poets that have ever lived : " The wilderness and 

 the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert 

 shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose/'' 



The yellow horned-poppy is found in flower from June 

 to October. It was the Chelidoninm gluucitnii of Linnaeus 

 and the early botanists, but in all modern systems of plant 

 classification and nomenclature it is the Glaucium luteiim. 

 The generic name is derived from the glaucous, or sea- 

 greeii hue of the foliage and stems. The Greek word 

 glaukos, blue or grey, originally gleaming, very well 

 describes the fine bluish-green bloom that is seen on the 

 surface of the leaves. The specific name htteum refers to 

 the colour of the flowers ; it is the Latin word for yellow. 



The plant is an annual, very sturdy in growth, attain- 

 ing to a height of from one to two feet, but covering a 

 considerable space, from the number of its widely-spreading 

 branches and long, straggling pods. The leaves are very 

 thick in texture, to enable them to bear the brunt of the 

 exposed situation in which the plant is found, and the 

 veining is almost lost to sight unless the leaves are held in 

 such a position as to allow the light to pass through them. 

 The lower leaves are stalked and divided into a series of 

 lobes, the whole surface being covered with short hairs, 

 -while the upper leaves clasp the stem, and are much 

 simpler in form, and smoother in appearance and to the 

 touch, though even these are what is botanically termed 



