112 PAPAVERACE/E. 



Herbs of a glaucous appearance, with annual, biennial, or 

 rarely perennial roots, branching stems beset with prickly 

 bristles and abounding with a yellow juice, and alternate 

 pinnatifid-incised sessile leaves, which are often mottled 

 with white along the midrib ; the lobes and teeth spinulose- 

 pointed. Flowers terminal and solitary, short-peduncled or 

 subsessile, not drooping in the bud (as in the Poppy and 

 most of the allied genera) : petals yellow or white. 



Etymology and Properties. Name said to be derived from dpye/ia, a 

 disease of the eye ; the acrid juice being a native ophthalmic medicine. The 

 seeds share in the active properties of the plant ; and are employed in the 

 West Indies as a substitute for Ipecacuanha, and in South America as a 

 purgative. 



Geographical Distribution. The few species are natives of tropical 

 America and, apparently, of the southern border of the United States ; but 

 A. Mexicana has been from an early period widely diffused over the world. 



PLATE 47. Argemone Mexicana, Linn. ; — summit of a stem, with a 

 flower-bud, flower, and unripe pod ; natural size. 



1. A sepal, detached ; seen from the inner side. 



2. A magnified stamen, outside view ; and 3, seen obliquely edgewise. 



4. Pistil enlarged ; the ovary divided longitudinally. 



5. Transverse section of the same. 



6. An ovule, more magnified. 



7. A capsule, dehiscent ; natural size. 



8. A seed, enlarged. 



9. Longitudinal section of the same ; showing the embryo, which is re- 



markably large for this family 



