6 CALLIRRHOE INVOLUCRATA. PURPLE POPPY-MALLOW. 



to be a Mallow, and Cavanilles, therefore, in a work on mona- 

 delphous plants, published in Paris about the end of last cen- 

 tury, named it Malva Papavcr, from the resemblance of its 

 flowers to Papavcr Rhocas, the common, classic .Field-Poppy, or 

 Corn-Rose, of Europe. If we accept this theory, we may sup- 

 pose that Nuttall had the P. Rhoeas in mind when he decided on 

 making a new genus for Malva Papavcr, and hence our present 

 name, the " Beautiful Rhceas or Poppy." If some inquisitive 

 mind should still be unsatisfied, and should go further and ask 

 how the Corn-Rose came to be called R/iwas, he would find 

 himself involved in new difficulties, as some maintain that the 

 name is derived from rhodon, the Greek word for rose, while 

 others connect it with the fact that the Field-Poppy "overflows" 

 all the corn-fields and waste places. 



The reasons which induced Nuttall to separate these plants 

 from Malva are given by him in the " Journal of the Academy 

 of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia," for 182 1. In the true 

 Malvas there are always three involucre-like bracts beneath the 

 flower, while in Callirr/ioc we find frequently only two or one, 

 or even none at all ; but this character, being changeable, is of 

 little value. Our present species, indeed, always has three 

 bracteoles, as we see in the plate (Fig. 2), and to this peculiarity, 

 which is exceptional in the genus, it owes its specific name, 

 invohici-ata. A better-marked distinction is found in the fruit. 

 In Callirrhdc, as stated by Dr. Gray in his " Field, Forest, and 

 Garden Botany," the carpels have a sort of beak at the summit, 

 while Malva has the carpels beakless. Some European bot- 

 anists, however, do not regard these distinctions as sufTficient to 

 make them the basis of different genera, and therefore employ 

 them merely as characteristics of a subdivision of true Malvas. 



Those who wish to cultivate the Purple Poppy-Mallow, as our 

 plant is commonly called, will find it very easily managed. Mr„ 

 Robinson, of London, praises it very highly, in his " Hardy 

 Flowers " for English gardens, naming it as specially well 

 adapted for rock-work, for which its trailing habit and its ability 



