DICOTYLEDONES. 



227 



Flax (Camelina), etc. " The curious plant called the Rose 

 of Jericho" (Anastatiea hierochuntica), often sold as a 

 curiosity, is a small annual, native of Arabia, Egypt, and 

 Syria. The mature plant after ripening its seeds contract 

 into a rounded mass, and is uprooted and blown about by 

 the winds; when, however, the dry and dead plant is 

 moistened it expands, closing again when dry. On this 

 account it is called the Eesurrection-plant. 



27. Papaveraceae. The Poppy family is a small 

 group (sixty species) 

 of herbs, and a few 

 low shrubs, found 

 mostly in the Tem- 

 perate Zone. They 

 have a milky juice, 

 containing a narcotic 

 principle, regular 

 flowers, and indefi- 

 nite stamens. The 

 Opium Poppy (Pa- 

 paver somniferum) is 

 the most import- 

 ant representative ; 

 it grows in the Old World, and from the green capsules 

 the milky juice is obtained and dried. This forms the 

 crude opium of commerce. The red juice of the Blood- 

 root of the United States {Sanguinaria Canadensia) is 

 similar in its properties to opium. The family furnishes 

 a few of our common ornamental plants, as the Poppies 

 and Argemone of Mexico, and EschschoUzia of California 

 (Fig. 337). 



28. Sarraceniaceae. Pitcher Plants. This very 



Fig. 337. Eschscholtzia. 



