PAPAVERACEAE (POPPY FAMILY) 171 



southern Europe has been sown. Occasional elsewhere but not 

 troublesome as a weed. 

 Habitat : Grain fields. 



This is the pest which for centuries has made the wheat fields 

 of Europe gorgeous with its color, and it is strange that it has not 

 made greater headway in this country. Its seeds are most tena- 

 cious of life when in the soil. 



Stems one to three feet high, slender, 

 erect, many-branched, set with short, 

 spreading hairs. The whole plant is filled 

 with bitter, milky juices. Leaves all pin- 

 natifid, the lobes lance-shaped, pointed, 

 sharply toothed, the lower ones petioled, 

 the upper ones smaller and sessile. Buds 

 nodding, enclosed in two, or occasionally 

 three, hairy sepals that fall away as the 

 flower unfolds; these are very large, two 

 to four inches broad ; petals four to six, 

 broader than long, of thin silken texture, 

 bright scarlet with a dark blotch at the 

 base ; stamens many. Capsule top-shaped, 

 the stigmatic disk at its apex usually ten- 

 rayed, and with as many cells as rays, 

 filled with very many small, brown seeds. 

 (Fig. 116.) 



Means of control FIG. 117. Field Poppy 



(Papaver Rhceas). X J. 

 Sow clean seed. Poppy seed is so very 



small that a good fanning mill should be able to remove it 

 completely from all seeds of grass and grain. If the area infested 

 is not too great to make the task impracticable, hand-pull the 

 plants when the first bright bloom appears and burn them. 

 Let none mature seed. 



LONG SMOOTH-FRUITED POPPY 

 Papaver dubium, L. 



Introduced. Annual. Propagates by seed. 

 Time of bloom : June to August. 



