Ord. PAPAVERACEtE. 



Herbas (succo lacteo vel croceo) exstipulatas : dicotyle- 

 doneas, hypogynas, polyandras, hermaphrodites ; sepalis peta- 

 lisque di — trimeris regularibus caducis ; ovario uniloculari, 

 placentis 2-20 parietalibus pauci-multiovulatis ; ovulis ana- 

 tropis ; embryone in basi albuminis oleoso-carnosi parvo. 



PapaveracEjE, Juss. Gen. p. 236. DC. Syst. 2 p. 67. Torr. & Gray, 

 Fl. N. Am. 1. p. 60. Lindl. Veg. Kingd. p. 430. 



Papaverace*, Subord. 1, Bernh. in Linntea, 8. p. 401 & 12. p. 651. 

 Endl. Gen. p. 854. 



The Poppy Family is usually known, among the hypogynous polyan- 

 drous and polypetalous orders, by its milky or colored, and narcotic or acrid 

 juice ; the usually alternate and lobed or divided leaves without stipules ; the 

 caducous calyx of only two or three sepals ; the early deciduous petals of 

 twice, thrice, or some higher multiple of the same number, imbricated and 

 commonly crumpled in aestivation, and by the one-celled compound ovary, 

 composed of from two to twenty carpels, with as many parietal placentae, 

 which usually separate from the edges of the valves of the capsule in dehis- 

 cence. The anatropous seeds are frequently crested at the raphe ; and the 

 embryo is small or minute at the base of the copious fleshy and usually oily 

 albumen. They are principally annuals. One genus, Dendromecon of Cal- 

 ifornia, alone is shrubby : and a most remarkable anomaly is presented by 

 another Californian genus (Platystemon, Bcnth.), which has a cluster or 

 whorl of apocarpous pistils ! 



The family consists of about 19 genera, none of which is numerous in 

 species except Papaver itself. Much the larger part of the order belongs to 

 the South of Europe and the adjacent portion of Asia. Another focus is 

 found in a country of very similar climate, namely in California, to which, 

 and to the regions adjacent, seven or eight of the genera are peculiar. One 

 or two perennial Poppies alone are arctic, and constitute the only represent- 

 atives of the typical genus in the New World. Chelidonium, the Celan- 

 dine, is a common weed around dwellings, but has been introduced from 

 Europe. It is remarkable that, among our numerous weeds, imported with 

 grain, &c, the Corn-Poppies of the Old World have not found a place, ex- 

 cept in one or two local instances. 



