Papaveracea Platystemon. 3 7 



1. PLATYST^MOK 



A small genus of annual herbs with narrow entire leaves. 

 Flowers on long peduncles, yellow. Sepals 3. Petals 6. 

 Stamens numerous, with dilated filaments. Carpels numerous, 

 many-seeded, at first partially united, but free when mature. 

 The name is from TrXaruy, broad, and a-Trjfia, a stamen. Two 

 species have been described ; they are both dwarf hardy plants 

 of straggling habit and no great merit. 



1. P. Calif ornicus. Leaves and capsules- hairy. Native of 

 California, flowering in August. 



2. P. leiocarpus. Capsules smooth, flowers yellowish white. 

 A native of Siberia. 



2. PAPlVER 



Showy annual and perennial herbs with lobed or dissected 

 leaves and milky juice. Flowers on long peduncles, nodding 

 when in bud. Sepals usually 2. Petals 4 or more. Stamens 

 numerous. Ovary 1 -celled; style short or obsolete; stigma 

 discoid, with radiating lobes opposite the placentas, which pro- 

 ject in towards the centre of the ovary. Capsule opening by- 

 pores ; seeds numerous, small, pitted. About a dozen species 

 are known, from Europe, North Africa, and Asia, one extend- 

 ing to South Africa, and one to Australia. Though the genus 

 is poor in species, these are very prolific in varieties. The 

 etymology of the word is obscure. 



Perennial Species. 



1. P. orientate. A handsome plant, 3 or 4 feet high. Stems 

 supporting one large scarlet or orange-scarlet flower with a 

 dark crimson spot at the base of the petals. P. bracteaturn 

 (fig. 28), syn. P. pulchSrrimum, is a variety in which the 

 sepals are . foliaceous and persistent, and the flowers much 

 larger. A native of Western and Central Asia. 



2. P. alplnum. A dwarf plant, less than a foot high, 

 native of the mountains of Europe from the Alps to Lapland. 

 Leaves pinnate, glaucous. Flower-stems leafless, hispid, one- 

 flowered. Flowers large and showy, bright orange-yellow or 

 white. P. nudicaiile is an allied Arctic species or variety, 

 and P. Pyrenaicum is a handsome dwarf variety with trailing 

 leaves and orange-coloured flowers. 



Annual Species. 



3. P. somniferum. Opium Poppy. A tall glaucous glabrous 



