POPPY. 



POPPY, THE HORNED. 



was not found by the Michaux, but has been ' than they are long, of a light-scarlet, the mar- 

 long cultivated in Europe as a North American gin mostly crenate. 



Common red poppy, or corn rose (P. rliaas) 

 See CORN POPPY. This is the only officinal 

 species of the British poppies ; but it is used 

 in medicine merely as a colouring agent. 



White poppy (P. somnifemm'). This species 



States ; but it is so rare as to escape the no- ! appears to grow wild on sandy ground in the 

 tice of the greater part of their inhabitants. It j neighbourhood of some of the fen lands. But 

 is called cotton-wood on the Savannah in it is probable that in places where it is found 



tree. It is also called the Swiss poplar, and is 

 confounded with the cotton-wood. 



Cotton tree (P. argent ia). This species is 

 scattered over a great extent of country com- 

 prising the Middle, Western, and Southern 



Georgia, where it is confounded with the Ca- 

 rolinian poplar. 



Tacantahaca or Balsam poplar (P. balsamica), 

 This species belongs to the northern regions 

 of America, being very abundant in Canada, 

 in the districts watered by the river Sagney, 

 between the 47th and 49th degrees of latitude, 

 where, notwithstanding the severity of the win- 

 ter, it rises to the height of 80 feet, with a dia- 

 meter of 3 feet. In the spring, when the buds 

 begin to be developed, they are abundantly 

 coated with a yellowish, glutinous substance, 

 of a very agreeable smell. 



Heart-leaved balsam poplar (P. candicans). In 

 the Northern and Eastern States, this tree, 

 which Michaux says is a genuine balsam, is 

 commonly seen growing before the houses in 

 town and country. In spring, a fragrant re- 

 sinous balsam exudes from its buds ; but it 

 differs from the Tacamahaca, its leaves being 

 three times larger and more heart-shaped. 



American aspen (P. tremuloidcs). See ASPEX, 



AXKKICAlt. 



American large aspen (P. grandidcnta). This 

 species belongs rather to the Northern and 

 Middle than to the Southern States. It is larger 

 than the preceding species, with which it is 

 usually confounded. 



POPPY (Papaver, from papa, pap, or thick 

 milk; the juice of the poppy was formerly 

 used in children's food to make them sleep). 

 These plants succeed best in a light, rich soil. 

 The perennial kinds are increased by dividing 

 at the roots. All the species are narcotic. In 

 England there are six indigenous species of 

 poppy, which are nearly all annuals. They 

 are arranged under two sections: 1. Those 

 with bristly capsules; 2. Those with smooth cap- 



The 1st section contains the round, rough- 

 headed poppy (P. hybridum), which grows in 

 sandy or chalky fields. This is not a hybrid, 

 implies, but a true permanent 



It is annual, 

 The herbage 



as its name 

 species. 



Long, rough-headed poppy (P. argemone). 

 This grows in grain fields and thin borders, 

 also on gravelly or sandy soils, 

 and flowers in June and July, 

 resembles the preceding, but the bristles are 

 less closely pressed to the stem, and the seg- 

 ments of the leaves are somewhat broader. 

 Petals pale-scarlet, black at the base, soon 

 falling, often jagged. 



The 2d section contains the long, smooth- 

 headed poppy (P. (lithium). This species is 

 found in cultivated fields, especially on a light 

 soil. Annual, and flowering in June and July. 

 It is of a stouter, more luxuriant habit than the 



with close-pressed bristles. 



apparently wild, the seed from the cultivated 

 poppy has been deposited by birds. The som- 

 niferous poppy is a native of Asia and Egypt. 

 It is cultivated in Hindostan, Persia, and Egypt, 

 on account of its opium ; in Germany for the 

 oil expressed from its seeds ; and in England 

 for the capsules, which are used in medicine. 

 It is universally known in our gardens as an 

 ornamental flower, and is much cultivated in, 

 the vicinity of London. The whole herb is 

 glaucous, and generally smooth, though the 

 flower-stalks now and then bear several rigid, 

 spreading, bristly hairs. The stem is 3 or 4 

 feet high, erect, branched, leafy. Leaves broad, 

 wavy, lobed, and bluntly notched, clasping the 

 stem with their heart-shaped base. Flowers 3 

 inches broad, white or bluish-white, with a 

 broad violet spot at the base of each petal. In 

 gardens, double varieties of every shade of 

 purple, scarlet, crimson, and even green mixed 

 with white, are common, though nothing can 

 be more liable to change. The capsule is near- 

 ly globular. Seed small, whitish-brown, oily, 

 sweet, and eatable. There are two varieties, 

 namely, P. album and P. nigrum, chiefly distin- 

 guished by the foramina under the stigma be- 

 ing absent in the former, and present and open 

 in the latter. The milky juice of the capsules, 

 when abstracted by transverse incisions and 

 inspissated, forms opium, which, as Haller well 

 observes, is far more potent and dangerous in 

 hot countries than in our cooler climates. The 

 capsules boiled afford a mild, narcotic decoc- 

 tion, more generally used for fomentations in 

 inward pains, and for making a syrup, which 

 is misused by lazy nurses, who administer it 

 to restless infants, and sacrifice them to their 

 own love of ease. Nothing is more to be con- 

 demned than the indiscriminate use of syrup 

 of poppies. No opium, except as experiment, 

 is made from poppies in England ; and, could 

 it be made, both it and the foreign opium 

 should never be employed except by the advice 

 of those who alone ought to direct its use. 



Yellow poppy (P. cambricum). This is a pe- 

 rennial species (and the only indigenous one) 

 which flourishes in moist, rocky situations in 

 Wales and Westmoreland. It flowers in June. 

 The herbage is tender, brittle, of a light, slight- 

 ly glaucous green ; its juice lemon-coloured. 

 Stem a foot high, many-flowered, thinly cover- 

 ed with upright hairs, leafy, branched. Flow- 

 ers of a most elegant, full lemon colour, deli- 

 ciously fragrant. 



Field poppy (Papaver dubium), bastard poppy. 

 This foreign annual, says Dr. Darlington, has 

 made its appearance in some of the cultivated 

 grounds of Pennsylvania and other parts of the 



foregoing, with broader leaves. The stem is United States, and, if neglected, may become 



clothed with spreading hairs; the flower-stalks a troublesome weed. 



Petals broader I POPPY, THE HORNED. See HORNED POPPT. 



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