THE ORIENTAL POFFY. 7 



applicable tci innumerable subjects^ from the gigantic 

 paulonia to this flaring popjjy. It will be observed that 

 this gay weedy thing has a white fleshy root, remotely 

 resembling that of a parsnip. This may be cut into 

 pieces an inch in length, and the pieces may be planted 

 in pans filled with sandy loam, the tops of the cuttings 

 being just even with the surface; and if kept reasonably 

 moist, and close shut up in a frame, every separate piece 

 of root will in due time make a plant. One of the re- 

 quirements of the management is p/ilieiice, which, indeed, 

 is the main requirement iu propagating plants by any and 

 every method everywhere. 



There are several forms of the Oriental poppy, and 

 they are distinguished from other j^oppies not only by 

 the intense though unrefined colour of their flowers, but 

 by the fact that they have three calyx pieces, other species 

 having but two. Fapaver Orientulc is regarded as the type. 

 It has flowers unaccompanied by bracts. Pupucer hractnt- 

 tinii is a bracted variety, commonly regarded as a separate 

 sijecies. Papaver ronculor and Papaver nMCuInium, which 

 have a place in the books, do not properly exist at all. 

 The names originate from the fact that in some cases tht 

 flowers are self-coloured deep scarlet, and in others there 

 is a purple spot at the base of each petal. For all ordi- 

 nary purposes these trivial variations are of no conse- 

 quence at all. 



Tourists in Wales and Cumberland, and other ,.>f the 

 mountainous districts of the north-west, are often per- 

 plexed by the appearance amongst rocks, and at the foot 

 of old walls on dusty roadsides, of an interesting herb 

 bearing gay yellow flowers. Its likeness to a poppy begets 

 an interest, and its intrinsic beauty sustains that interest. 



