VOL. II. 1 



POPPY FAMILY. 



101 



2. ARGEMONE I,. Sp. PL 508. 1753. 



Glaucous herbs, with yellow sap, spiny-toothed leaves and large showy flowers. Sepals 2 

 or 3. Petals 4-6. Stamens co . Placentae 4-6, many-ovuled. Style very short. Stigma 

 dilated, 3-6-radiate. Capsule prickly, oblong, dehiscent at the apex by valves. Seeds 

 numerous, cancellate. [Greek, an eye disease, supposed to be relieved by the plant so 

 called.] 



A genus of about 6 species, natives of the warmer parts of America. 



Petals yellow; leaves blotched; flowers sessile or subsessile. I. A. Mexicana, 



Petals white; leaves glaucous or green, not blotched; flowers peduncled. 2. A. alba. 



i. Argemone Mexicana L/. Mexican or Prickly Poppy. (Fig. 1663.) 



Argemone Mexicana L,. Sp. PI. 508. 1753. 



Stem stout, i-2 high, simple or spar- 

 ingly branched, spiny or sometimes 

 nearly unarmed. Leaves sessile, clasp- 

 ing by a narrowed base, 4 / -io / long, 

 2.'-\' wide, glaucous, white-spotted, 

 runcinate-piunatifid, spiny-toothed and 

 more or less spiny on the veins; flowers 

 yellow sessile or subsessile, i'-3' broad; 

 sepals acuminate, bristly-pointed; sta- 

 mens 4 // -5 // long; filaments slender, 

 much longer than their anthers; capsule 

 i' long or more. 



In waste places, New Jersey and Penn- 

 sylvania to Florida and Texas. Also in 

 ballast about the northern seaports. Ad- 

 ventive from tropical America. A common 

 weed in the tropics. The seeds yield a 

 valuable painter's oil. June-Sept. 



2. Argemone alba Lestib. White 

 Prickly Poppy. (Fig. 1664.) 



Argemone alba Lestib. Bot. Belg. Ed. 2: 3: Part 2, 

 132. 1799. 



Argemone albiflora Hornem. Hort. Havn. 469. 

 1815. 



Argemone intermedia Sweet, Hort. Brit. Ed. 2, 

 585- 1830. 



Similar to the preceding species but qom- 

 monly stouter and taller. Leaves piunatifid or 

 pinnately lobed, glaucous or green, notblotched, 

 but sometimes whitish along the veins; flowers 

 white, usually much larger, tf-tf broad, dis- 

 tinctly peduncled; petals rounded; spines of 

 the sepal-tips stouter; capsules I'-i^' long. 



Prairies, South Dakota to Texas, Arizona and 

 Mexico, east to Florida. May-Aug. 



3. SANGUINARIA L. Sp. PI. 505. 1753. 



Rootstock horizontal, thick; juice red. Leaves basal, palmately veined and lobed, cor- 

 date or reniform. Scape i-flowered (rarely 2). Flower white. Sepals 2, fugacious. Petals 

 8-12, arranged in 2 or 3 rows. Stamens co . Stigmas grooved. Placentae 2. Capsule ob- 

 long, dehiscent to the base, the valves persistent. Seeds smooth, crested. [Name f.-om the 

 red color of the juice.] 



A monotypic genus of eastern North America. 



