CLASSIFICATION OF ANGIOSPERMS. 



281 



latex. The rhizome is horizontal, short and thick, and gives rise 

 to a single, petiolate, palmately 5- to 9-lobed leaf and a single 

 white flower with a long peduncle (Fig. 148). The capsule is ob- 

 long, 2-valved and contains a number of smooth but crested seeds. 

 Chelidonium majus (celandine) is the source of the herb 

 CHELiDONiUM which was formerly official. The plant is a delicate 

 branching herb about 0.5 M. high ; with alternate, deeply pinnati- 



FiG. 147. A, Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) ; B, California poppy (Eschscholt- 



zia californica) showing flower (a), and capsules (b, c), one of which (c) is dehiscent. After 

 Schimper. . 



fid leaves ; yellow flowers ; slender elongated capsule resembling 

 that of the mustards, and a yellow latex in every part. Celandine 

 is indigenous to Europe and Asia and is common in waste places 

 in the United States. The drug contains the following alkaloids : 

 Chelidonine (identical widi stylophorine), chelerythrine (which 

 is fluorescent), and protopine (found also in opium and sangui- 

 naria). It also contains a bitter neutral principle chelidoxanthin 

 and several organic acids. 



