CHAP. IV. ORNAMENTAL ANNUALS. 293 



PAPAVERACE.E. 



Argemone. 



A. Mexicana GAMBOGE THISTLE DEVIL'S FIG HORNED 

 POPPY. BliurlMnd. A plant with variegated thistle-like 

 leaves ; bears large, expanded, bright-yellow flowers ; so 

 thoroughly established as a troublesome weed in all parts of 

 India, that in most gardens some little difficulty is found in 

 eradicating it. The curious seed-pod it bears seems to have 

 suggested one of the English names given it ; and the yellow 

 juice which exudes from it when wounded the other. There is 

 a variety with white flowers. 



Papaver. 



1. P. somniferum POPPY. The varieties of Poppy, both as 

 regards size and colour, are very numerous, bearing the names 

 severally of Paeony, Eanunculus, and Carnation- flowered. The 

 seed should be sown in October in the open ground in light rich 

 soil, where the plants are to remain, as they do not bear trans- 

 plantation. Seed procured from Europe cannot often be de- 

 pended upon to germinate ; hence when a good kind has once 

 been raised, care should be taken to save the seed of it from 

 year to year. 



2. P. Rhaeas FRENCH POPPY. A smaller plant than the 

 preceding, and distinguished from it by its much divided leaves 

 and hairy flower-stalks. 



Eschscholtzia. 



E. Californica CALIFORNIAN POPPY. A very showy plant, 

 with hoary green, much divided foliage; bears a profusion of 

 large, expanded, bright-yellow flowers. In the gardens of Upper 

 India it is always to be counted on as a splendid ornament 

 during the cold months ; but in the vicinity of Calcutta, though 

 it grows vigorously, and in some seasons affords a tolerable dis- 

 play of flowers, it more commonly fails of yielding a single blos- 

 som, nor becomes at all the more disposed to do so from being 

 preserved,, as it may be, till the following Cold season. The 

 seed should be sown in October, where the plants are to remain, as 

 " when transplanted," Sir J. Paxton observes, " they are a very 

 long time before they commence growing again." Hunnemannia 

 fumarisefolia is in many respects very similar, and blossoms 

 freely in the middle of April. 



