106 



NATURAL HIS TOBY OF PLANTS. 



anthers of submarginal dehiscence. The unilocular ovary is sur- 

 mounted by three or four styles, and contains as many multiovulate, 

 scarcely prominent placentas. The dry fruit opens from above 

 downwards into three or four valves, bearing the seeds on their 

 edges. Of this genus three species are known 1 from North America, 

 all annuals, with habit foliage and inflorescences of Platystemon. 



Momneya caJiforniccf approaches the above plants in the freedom of 

 the numerous stigmatiierous tongues surmounting the ovary. Its 

 stamens are very numerous, with filiform filaments and extrorse 

 anthers. The fruit is a prickly capsule, divided inside by the seed- 

 bearing septa into numerous complete or incomplete cells. This 

 species is a branching herb, with pinnatifid leaves and terminal 

 flowers, like those of Argemone. 



II. POPPY SEPJES. 



In the Poppies 3 (Fr., Pavois; figs. 113-124) the carpels have 

 quite lost their freedom ; the flowers are regular and hermaphrodite. 

 The convex receptacle bears a calyx of two" opposite, imbricated or 

 twisted, caducous sepals, and two corollas of two petals each, the 

 outer alternate to the sepals, the inner superposed to them ; all 

 the petals are twisted or imbricate, corrugated above, in the bud, 

 and caducous.* The androceum is represented by an indefinite 

 (usually very large) 6 number of free h} r pogynous stamens/ whose 

 filaments support a basifixed anther, with two lateral cells, each 

 opening by a marginal or subextrorse longitudinal cleft. 8 The 



N.-Amer., i. 64), which, through M. calijhrnica 

 Torr., is inseparable from Platysligma. 



1 Lindl., in Bot. Reg., t. 11)54— Ho K., 

 icon., t. 38, 360 (Mecont!la).-—Bof. Mag., t. 

 3575.— Walp., Ann., i. 23. 



2 Hary., in Hook. Journ., iv. 74, t. 3. — 

 B. H., Gen., 51, n. 3.— Walp., Rep., v. 21. 



3 Papacer T\, List., 237, t. 119, 12o.— L., 

 Gen., n. 648. — Adans., Fam. des PL, ii. 432. — 

 J., Gen., 236. — Gjektn., Frvct., i. 288, t. 60. — 

 Lamk., Diet., v. 110; Suppl.. iv. 335; 111, t. 

 451.— DC, Sgst., ii. 69; Proclr., i. 117 — 

 Spach, Suit, a Biffi.n, vii. 10. — Bernh., in 



Linnesa, viii. 462.— Endl., Gen., n. 4823. 



Pater, Organog., 218, t. 224.— B. H., Gen., 

 51, 965, n. 4.— ? Closterandra B£l. (ex Esdl., 



Gen., 856). — ? Arctomecon Tour., in Frew. 

 R<p., 312, t. 2— 1*. H., Gen., 52, n. 58. 



4 Trimerous flowers are of pretty frequent 

 occurrence, especially in cultivation, notably in 

 P. orienlale L., hraeteaium Lindl., &c. 



s Their base is often marked by a dark, 

 blackish spot. 



6 On very poor land tbe number may be almost 

 definite; we occasionally find Red Poppies with 

 only six or eight. 



7 Payee [l< v. cit , 220) states that they appear 

 in succession from below upwards. 



s The pollen grains are ovoid, with three equi- 

 distant longitudinal folds, which become bands in 

 water, and are usually narrow (H. ^ohl, in 

 Ann. Sc. Nat., ser. 2, iii. 326). 



