AND THE WILDERNESS BLOSSOMED 



be an Opium Poppy of the East or a Corn 

 Poppy of Europe. 



Papaver Rhaas, the Corn Poppy of Europe, 

 has foliage of a more yellowish green than P. som- 

 niferum, with more slender stalks, and the leaves 

 are neither smooth nor glaucous, but bristly. 

 The pod is small, compared to the Asiatic flower, 

 is egg-shaped, with the broad end upwards, and 

 bears a much smaller seed. The Shirley and 

 the English Scarlet are well-known varieties 

 of this species. The delicacy, grace, and wonder- 

 ful colorings of the Shirley Poppy should have 

 suggested to the growers the great possibilities 

 of this strain, and encouraged them to pay more 

 attention to the production of new shades and 

 forms, but on the contrary they seem to have 

 devoted their energies to the stifFer, coarser 

 blossoms of the eastern species. All varieties 

 of the Corn Poppy remain in bloom for a much 

 longer period than the somniferum. The plants 

 usually grow to a height of about two feet, but I 

 have had specimens that exceeded four feet. The 

 flowers are either single or Semi-double, never 

 approaching the round ball-like flowers of the 

 double somniferum. The double form of the 

 Corn Poppy is known in Europe as Ranun- 



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