VIOLA. 71 



includes 20 genera and 150 species, chiefly natives of the N. 

 Temperate Zone, briefly characterized as follows : 



Herbs with colored or milky juice. 



Flowers 2 or 4-parted, polyandrous, hypogynous. 



Sepals fugacious. 



Ovary compound, 1-celled. 



Fruit a dry pod, with parietal placentae. 



The POPPYWORTS all possess narcotic properties in their juice, but 

 not in their seeds. The milky white juice of the Opium Poppy, when 

 extracted and dried, becomes the opium of commerce.* 



The California Poppy (EschscTioltzia), a showy garden annual, is so 

 abundant on the hillsides of California as to paint them with its own 

 yellow-orange color visible far out on the Sea. 



The Celandine (Ghelidonium majus), from Europe, grows in road- 

 sides and waste places. Its saffron-colored juice is said, when faith- 

 fully applied, to kill warts. 



Scientific Terms. Annual herb. Caducous. Crest. Dicotyle- 

 donous. Glaucous. Placentae central. Placentas parietal. Rhizome. 

 Sinus. Sutures. Tap-root. 



XV. THE VIOLETS. 



Description. Who does not know and love the Vio- 

 lets ? Early or late in spring, in all our rambles, they greet 

 us with their quaint and cheerful faces the yellow in the 

 rocky woods, the white in boggy swamps, and the blue 

 everywhere.! With specimens in profusion, let us first 



* The narcotic properties of the Poppy must have been early known, for in ancient 

 Greece the god of sleep was figured as reclining on a bed of its snowy blossoms, and 

 grasping them in his motionless hand. In the East the Poppy attains a greater lux- 

 uriance, and its white juice is more abundant than in our colder climate. The pro- 

 cess of collecting the opium to-day is the same as described by Dioscorides many 

 centuries ago. At sunset incisions are made in the half-ripened capsules. During 

 the night the juice exudes and collects in globules outside. The next morning these 

 are scraped off, thickened in the sun, and shaped by the hand into balls. The seeds 

 are not injured by the flow of the juice, and make a second harvest. They contain 

 no opium, but are rich in oil, which, as an article of diet, is nearly as good as the 

 Oil of Olives. 



+ History tells us how in all ages the Violet has been prized. Athens honored it 

 with the first place in floral wreaths. An ancient poet speaks of "living in Violet- 



