326 THE LOWER DICOTYLEDONS. 



lengthens out, carrying up the fruits for more effective 

 dispersal. 



337. The Field Poppy (Papaver rhoeas), so common in 

 cornfields, is the largest of the red Poppies growing in Britain. 

 It is annual, and its leaves are cut up pinnately into toothed 

 pointed lobes, covered with rough spreading hairs. 



The flowers (May to August) are large (3 to 4 inches 

 across) and are carried on long stalks covered with bristly 

 hairs like those on the rest of the shoot. The young flower 

 nods on its stalk, not simply on account of its own weight 

 but because one side of the stalk grows more rapidly than the 

 other ; when the flower is about to open, the concave side of 

 the stalk grows more and thus brings the flower erect. When 

 the stalk has straightened, the two thick hairy concave sepals, 

 which have covered and protected the young flower, drop off, 

 so that unobservant students are apt to think the Poppy has 

 no calyx. 



STIGMAS _^_- . PJETALS 



STAMENS 



PLACENTA 



SEPAL 

 Pig. 129. Vei-tical Section of Poppy Flower. 



Note the curious crumpled appearance of the petals in the 

 young flower; as the latter opens the folds are smoothed 

 out. The four petals are in two pairs, and each petal has 

 a black patch on its lower part, so that the centre of the 

 scarlet flower is made more conspicuous. The stamens 



