PAPATEEACE^. 71 



upon which the stigmas radiate from the centre, internally divided nearly 

 to the centre, into as many incomplete cells as there are stigmas, and open- 

 ing in as many pores, immediately under the disk. Flowers rather large, red, 

 white, or purplish in the British species, or pale yellow in some exotic ones. 

 A small genus, extending over Europe and temperate Asia, and intro- 

 duced among weeds of cultivation into other parts of the world. 



Plant glabrous and glaucous. Leaves toothed or slightly lohed, clasp- 

 ing the stem at their base 1. Opium P. 



Plant green, usually with stiff hairs. Leaves once or twice pinnately 

 divided. 

 Capsule glabrous. 



Capsule globular 2. Field P. 



Capsule oblong 3. Long-headed P. 



Capsule more or less hispid with stiff hairs or bristles. 



Capsule nearly globular. Bristles numerous and spreading . . 4. Eough P. 

 Capsule oblong or obovoid. Bristles few and erect 5. Fale P. 



The yellow-flowered P. nudicaule, from the mountains of northern and 

 central Europe and Asia, is occasionally cultivated in our gardens. 



1. Opium Poppy. Fapaver somniferum, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 2145. Garden Poppy.) 



An erect annual, of a glaucous green, glabrous, or with a few hairs on the 

 peduncle, scarcely branched, about 2 feet liigh or more when cultivated. 

 Leaves clasping the stem by their cordate base, oblong, hregularly toothed, 

 and slightly sinuate or lobed. Elowers large, usually of a bluish white, 

 with a piu-ple base. Filaments slightly dilated at the top. Capsule large, 

 globular, and glabrous. 



A native of southern Europe and the Levant, bvit much cultivated in 

 European gardens, and occasionally establishes itself in waste places. In 

 Britain it assumes the appearance of a wUd plant in several parts of Eng- 

 land, especially near the sea, and in the fens of the eastern counties. Fl. 

 summer. It is the species which supplies Opium and Poppy heads, and in 

 our gardens varies much in the colour of the flowers, which are often very 

 double. 



2. Field Poppy. Papaver Rhoeas, Lum. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 645.) 



An erect, branched, annual, 1 to 2 feet high or rarely more, with stiff 

 spreading hairs or bristles. Lower leaves large, stalked, once or twice pin- 

 nately divided, the lobes lanceolate, pointed, and more or less cut. Flowers 

 large, of a rich scarlet, with a dark eye, the filaments of the stamens not di- 

 lated. Capsule perfectly smooth, globular or sUghtly top- shaped, with 10 

 or more stismatic rays. 



In waste and cultivated places, in central and southern Europe and western 

 Asia, disappearing in the north. In Britain chiefly a cornfield weed, abun- 

 dant in England and Ireland, less so in Scotland, and scarce in the High- 

 lands. Fl. all .summer. Double-flowering varieties are often cultivated. 



3. Iion^-headed Poppy. Papaver dubium, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 644.) 

 Very near the field P., but generally smaller and more slender, the leaves 

 more cut, with narrower lobes, the hairs less spreading, and the flowers 

 rather smaller. It is also more essentially distinguished by the capsule, 

 wliich is oblong, often twice as long as broad, narrowed at the base, with 

 fewer stigmatic rays. 



