V. PAPAVER KHOEAS. IO7 



burning nature, and in generally having two sepals 

 and twice two petals ; " but as some poppies have 

 three sepals, and twice three petals, the number 

 of these parts is not sufficiently constant to form 

 an essential mark." Yes, I know that, for I found 

 a superb six-petaled poppy, spotted like a cistus, 

 the other day in a friend's garden. But then, what 

 makes it a poppy still ? That it is of a stupifying 

 nature, and itself so stupid that it does not know 

 how many petals it should have, is surely not 

 enough distinction ? 



9. Returning to Lindley, and working the matter 

 farther out with his help, I think this definition 

 might stand. " A poppy is a flower which has 

 either four or six petals, and two or more treasuries, 

 united into one ; containing a milky, stupifying 

 fluid in its stalks and leaves, and always throwing 

 away its calyx when it blossoms." 



And indeed, every flower which unites all these 

 characters, we shall, in the Oxford schools, call 

 ' P°PPy>' ar, d ' Papaver ; ' but when I get fairly into 

 work, I hope to fix my definitions into more 

 strict terms. For 1 wish all my pupils to form the 

 habit of asking, of every plant, these following four 

 questions, in order, corresponding to the subject of 

 these opening chapters, namely, " What root has it ? 

 what leaf ? what flower ? and what stem ? " And, 



