PLANTS. 223 



touched by a needle, instantly draw up or contract. 

 Blooms in May or June ; bears a scarlet berry in Sep- 

 tember, is juicy and acid, but very pleasant to the taste. 

 This juice pressed, strained, and boiled with sugar, makes 

 a refreshing syrup. The fine yellow wood is used for 

 inlaying ; the bark of the root furnishes a yellow dye. 

 It grows spontaneously in the hedges almost everywhere 

 in Europe. 2. Class 6, Linn. 



SECOND DIVISION. 



Fruit mostly of a one-celled pod or capsule ; stigmas 

 persistent or permanent. 



FIFTH FAMILY. PAPAVERAC^E, Class 13, L. The 

 Common Poppy (Papaver somniferum). The calyx is 

 composed of two sepals and drooping ; corolla of four 

 petals, when cultivated has many more. The seed pod 

 is as large as a moderate-sized apple, and divided into 

 incomplete partitions, upon which is a sessile cicatrice, 

 radiating from the summit. Stalk upright ; leaves 

 smooth, fleshy, and blue-green. The Poppy is originally 

 from the East, and on account of the oily juice contained 

 in its fine white albuminous seed, is cultivated in Europe 

 and elsewhere. There are some species in which the 

 seed is black. If an incision is made into the unripe 

 capsule a milky juice is seen to flow, which, on being 

 dried, turns brown, is well known as opium, and acts as 

 a narcotic poison. Q. 



The Corn Poppy (Papaver rhceas), Endl. German, 

 Klatschrose, is branching and bristly; leaves divided;* 

 flowers bright red, and most frequently found growing 

 among grain. The capsule is about as large as a hazel- 



* Pinaately dissected. TV. 



