THE POPPY. 393 



The true poppies of Britain are : 1. the P. Rhixas, 

 already alluded to; 2. the long prickly-headed- 

 poppy (P. argemone), which frequents similar situ- 

 ations, and is distinguished by the narrowness of its 

 petals ; 3. the rough round-headed P. hybridum, 

 which occurs, though sparingly, in the chalky or 

 sandy fields of Norfolk, Durham, Cornwall, Essex, 

 and Kent ; as well as about Ormeshead in Ireland ; 

 4. the long smooth-headed P. dubium, which we 

 know by its much paler hue ; and 5. the white, or 

 opium-poppy (P. somntferum), which we cannot 

 consider to be really an indigenous plant, as it is 

 only found in the neighbourhood of districts where 

 it has at some time been cultivated. 



I must beg to dissent from those writers who tell 

 us that the name papaver (whence our poppy), is 

 applied to this plant "because it is administered 

 with pap (papa, in Celtic), to induce sleep/' though 

 I am not in the satisfactory position of being able 

 to offer a better etymology. This, however, does 

 not necessarily compel me to rest satisfied with a 

 false one. 



The Arabs justly term this plant aboo-l-nom, or 

 the " father of sleep /' but it is quite beyond the 

 limit which I have marked out for myself to enter 

 into the very familiar subject of the produce of 

 opium from the poppy. William Coles, in his 

 " Adam and Eve, or the Paradise of Plants/' affirms 

 that, according to the "doctrine of signatures/' a 

 decoction of the poppy is good for all diseases of the 

 head, "as their crowns somewhat represent the head 

 and brain " of man. 



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