430 



PAPAVERACE^E. 



[Hypogynous Exogensi 



Order CLVI. PAPAVERACE.E.— Poppyworts. 



Papaveraces, Jus*. Gen. 236. (1789) inpart,- DC Syst. 2 67.. (1818); ^£ t ™J^ ) U ternhar % 

 in Linnaa. 8. 401. (1833) ; Endl. Gen. clxxx. ; Manner, p. 7 ; Wight Illustr. 1. 27. 



Diagnosis.— Ranal Exogens, with dimerous or trimerous flowers, consolidated carpels, 



deciduous calyx, and usually parietal placenta. 

 Herbaceous plants or shrubs, often with a milky juice Leaves alternate, simple or 

 divided, without stipules. Peduncles long, 1 -flowered; flowers never blue. Sepals 

 (or 3), deciduous. Petals hypogynous, either 

 4 (or 6), or some multiple of that number, 

 usually crumpled before expansion, occa- 

 sionally 0. Stamens hypogynous, 00 ; anthers 

 2-celled, innate. Ovary 1-celled, with pa- 

 rietal placentae ; which in Roinneya adhere 

 in the axis ; style short, or none ; ovules 00, 

 anatropal. Fruit 1-celled, either pod-shaped, 

 with parietal or sutural placentae, or capsu- 

 lar, with several placentae. Seeds numerous ; 

 albumen between fleshy and oily; embryo 

 minute, straight, at the base of the albumen, 

 with plano-convex cotyledons. 



The common Redweed of the corn fields 

 offers a good representation of the general 

 character of the plants of this Order, whose 

 appearance is varied principally by the 

 flowers being white or yellow, and occa- 

 sionally by their being collected into dense 

 panicles, when they are greatly reduced in 

 size, and even in the number of their parts, 

 Uocconia having no petals. In this state 

 they approach the Crowfoots through Tha- 

 lictrum. In general also their carpels are 

 completely consolidated, but in the curious 

 genus Platystemon, they are as distinct as in 

 a Crowfoot, and in fact that genus would be 

 referable to Ranunculaceae if it were not for 

 its 2 sepals, no such number being known in 

 that Order. 



The siliquose-fruited genera, such as 



Glaucium and Eschscholtzia, have been sup- 

 posed to indicate the near affinity of this 



Order to Crucifers ; but the totally different 



structure of their seeds is such as to neu- 

 tralise what little affinity may be indicated 



by the form of the fruit. Through Papaver 



the Order approaches Water Lilies. To 



Rock-roses an unexpected relationship has 



been established by the discovery of Dendro- 



mecon. The greatest affinity is, however, 



with Crowfoots, from which it is sometimes 



extremely difficult to know this Order, with- 

 out ascertaining that the juice is milky and 



narcotic. Platystemon is the connecting 



link between the two Orders. Bernhardt 



indeed denies that time Poppyworts are 



universally lactescent plants, and he quotes 



Hunnemannia, Eschscholtzia, and Glaucium, 



as instances to the contrary ; but in reality 



Fig.CCC. 



cm. 



Fig.CCC. — Romeria refracta. 1. its stamens and pistil; 

 Eschscholtzia califomica ; 3, 4, seeds of Papaver orientate. 

 Fig. CCCI.— Flower and fruit of Chelidonium majus. 



a cross section of the ovar) o 



