PAPAVEKACE.E. 21 



FL. Throughout the year. 



Herbaceous, 1-2 'feet in height : branches erect, terete, 

 glaucous, subaculeate with stiff prickly hairs. Leaves alter- 

 nate, sessile, oblong, repando-sinuated with the angles dentato- 

 spinulose, nerved, glaucescent. Peduncles axillary, very short, 

 1 -flowered. Flowers large, yellow. Calyx sparingly aculeato- 

 pilose ; sepals usually 2, accrete, previous to the opening of the 

 flower, concave with the apex hooded, and externally conical 

 (the cone terminating in a prickly awn), deciduous. Petals 

 usually 6, wedge-shaped at the base. Stamens about 20, half 

 the length of the petals, and of the same length as the ovary : 

 anthers oblong. Ovary oblong, angulose, setaceo-pilose with 

 appressed hairs : stigmata usually 4, purple, reflected, concave. 

 Capsule size of a walnut, somewhat oblong, angulose, setaceo- 

 prickly. Seeds numerous, spherical, compressed, with numer- 

 ous minute roundish excavations on the surface. 



This plant, as its specific name indicates, was supposed at 

 one time to be peculiar to Mexico. It has however been found 

 in all the warmer parts of the globe, as far South in the Old 

 World as the Cape of Good Hope, and as far North in the New 

 as Canada. It is common in all the West India Islands, in 

 the valleys and on the hills of St Helena, and even in the 

 Sandwich Islands. De Candolle states that he has had oppor- 

 tunities of examining specimens from very different parts of 

 the world, and that he could detect no difference. He supposes 

 that it must have migrated from America, which he considers 

 to have been its native country, by means of its seeds conveyed 

 by travellers, to India and elsewhere. 



The Spaniards call the fruit of this plant, Figo del inftrno, 

 from the prickly hairs with which it is armed. Barham how- 

 ever tells us a different story. " The fruit," he says, " is called 

 Ficus infernalis ; and well it may, for it contains seeds enough 

 to send any that should take them wilfully to inferno, being 

 much stronger than any opium." There is however a good 

 deal of exaggeration in this. The late Dr Affleck mentions 

 that he frequently administered the seeds in the form of emul- 

 sion, by rubbing up two drachms of them with sugar, and 

 adding a pint of boiling water ; and that it acted at first as an 

 anodyne, and afterwards as a purgative. Were this the case, it 

 would be invaluable as a remedy in many diseases ; but unfortun- 

 ately it has not been found to fulfil the desired intentions, for 

 an emulsion, prepared in the manner above described, produced, 

 when administered, no perceptible effect. An oil, expressed 

 from the seeds, is employed in Mexico by the native artists, for 

 varnishing the wood, to prepare it for the reception of the colours. 

 In the East Indies, the native doctors, are said, to make use of 

 this oil as an external application in cases of headach, and for 

 scald-head. 



All parts of the plant abound with a milky gelatinous juice, 



