328 THE LOWER DICOTYLEDONS. 



After pollination, the petals and stamens fall off, and as 



the capsule grows larger you can see, just below the eaves of 



the stigmatic roof, a number of 



VALVE - STIGMAS openings being formed by bits of 

 the wall splitting off (Fig. 132). 

 , PORE The flower- stalk remains erect, the 

 roof of the capsule protects the 

 seeds against rain, and the seeds 

 gradually escape through the holes 

 when the plant is shaken by high 

 winds. This is a fine example of a 

 censer mechanism. 



338. The Poppy Family 

 (Fapaveraceae) is a small one, 

 closely allied to the Cruciferae and, 



like it, consists almost entirely of herbaceous plants, chiefly 

 found in the North Temperate regions. The Fumitory 

 Family is now merged in the Poppy Family, because, though 

 differing from the latter in some respects, it agrees in having 

 two sepals, four petals, and a superior one-chambered ovary. 

 The Poppy Family in the wider sense has therefore two sec- 

 tions or sub-orders : (1) the Poppy Sub-Order (flowers 

 regular, petals not spurred, stamens numerous) and (2) the 

 Fumitory Sub-Order (petals spurred, stamens two). 



Poppy Sub-Order. Besides Papaver itself, there are two genera 

 common in Britain, and each represented by a single native species ; 

 both have long narrow ovaries and fruits, the latter opening by two 

 valves, in somewhat the same way as the siliqua of a Crucifer. The 

 plants of the Poppy Sub- Order usually contain milky or yellow 

 juice. 



The Greater Celandine (Ohelidonium majus), common in England, 

 on roadsides and in waste places, but chiefly near houses, has leafy 

 shoots 1-2 feet high, containing orange juice, thin leaves divided into 

 3-7 toothed lobes ; yellow firs, with umbel, long ovary, short style, 

 with 2-lobed stigma ; fruit opening by two valves which separate from 

 below upwards, seeds with a small appendage (for dispersal by ants). 

 The Horned Sea Poppy (Glaucium luteum) is a large annual common 

 on sandy shores, with spreading branches and thick leaves covered 

 with waxy bloom ; firs, large (2-4 inches across), golden yellow ; ovary 

 divided into two chambers by a partition (as in Crucifers) ; fruit about 

 a foot long. 



