PAPAVERACE®. 93 
tip, rather shorter than the pistil. Capsule shortly ovoid, attenuated 
towards the base and apex, not stipitate, with numerous incurved, 
spreading-ascending, bristly spines. Stigmatic disk convex, scarcely 
lobed. Stigmatic rays 4 to 8, very thick and prominent, extending 
to or beyond the edge of the disk. 
Cornfields, waste places, local, preferring chalky or sandy soil. 
Occurs in a good many of the English counties, but does not extend 
to Scotland. 
England, Ireland. Annual. Summer. 
Stem 1 to 2 feet high, erect, solitary, or several from the same 
root, generally branched above. Leaves very similar to those of 
P. Argemone, except that the radical leaves are sometimes tri-pinna- 
tifid, and the outline of all is considerably broader. The stem leaves 
are more decidedly ternate in the arrangement of the primary 
divisions. Peduncles strigose, with adpressed hairs. Sepals very 
bristly. Flowers 13 to 2 inches in diameter. Petals roundish, 
very fugacious, crimson, with a purplish-black spot at the base. 
Stamens similar to those of P. Argemone. Capsule about 3 
inch long, regularly oval-ovoid or sub-globose, the nerves which 
on the exterior mark the placente not at all prominent, but the 
whole of the space between them bulges outwards, so that the capsule 
becomes slightly lobed. Bristles far more numerous, rigid, and 
spreading than in P. Argemone. Stigmatic disk much smaller in 
proportion, but otherwise resembling that of the last-named species. 
The whole plant rather dull green, slightly hairy, with the hairs 
on the lower part of the stem soft and spreading. The petals fall 
off about noon. 
Round Prickly-headed Poppy, Mongrel Poppy. 
GENUS IT—-MECONOPSIS. Fig. 
Sepals 2, herbaceous, very caducous, falling off when the flower 
opens. Petals 4, crumpled in estivation, caducous. Stamens 
indefjnite. Capsule elliptical-oblong, 1-celled, with placente pro- 
jecting slightly into the interior and forming imperfect partitions, 
contracted above into a short style, at the top of which there are 
4 to 6 radiating, free, deflexed stizmatic rays, and opening at the 
top by as many short triangular valves as there are stigmatic rays. 
Seeds numerous, punctured, with or without a strophiole. 
Perennial, or rarely annual herbs, with yellowish milk-sap. 
Habit very similar to that of the genus Papaver. 
The generic name of this plant comes from pyxwy (mekon), a Poppy, and occ 
(opsis), a likeness or resemblance. 
