101 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENIIS-G. 



from P. Rhmas. Some of the double varieties are 

 very fine indeed. F. mnhrosum is a teautiful intro- 

 duction of medium growth, and flowering very 

 freely. It has rich vermilion flowers, each petal 

 having a large black blotch. 



There, are some beautiful perennial Poppies, quite 

 hardy, and well deserving a place in the garden. 

 F. hraoteatmn has large crimson ■ salver-shaped 

 flowers, six to eight 

 inches in width, and it 

 is very showy indeed. 

 P. onentale resembles 

 it, but the flowers are 

 scarlet rather than 

 crimson. P. ntidicaule 

 is a much smaller- 

 flowering species, form- 

 ing tufts of bright yel- / 

 low flowers on slender 

 stalks about one foot 

 in height. There is a 

 white-flowered variety 

 of this, and a deep 

 orange form also. 

 These should be 

 planted out in well- 

 manured ground, and 

 suffered to become 

 established, and then 

 they flower verj' finely 

 indeed. 



The generic name 

 Fapaver is said to be 

 derived from papa, in- 

 fant's food, because 

 the juice of the plant 

 was mixed with that 

 to prevent a child be- 

 ing wakeful. If so, 

 we may conclude that 

 the Anglo-Saxon name 

 for the plant, Papig, 



and our English "Poppy" had a similar origin. 

 Theocritus tells us that the Greeks had the custom of 

 taking a petal of the Com Poppy, and laying it on the 

 thumb and forefinger of one hand and slapping it with 

 the other. If it gave a crack, it was a sign their 

 lovers loved them ; but if it failed, they lamented their 

 disappointment. The Drapery Bee {Apis papaveris) 

 forms the linings of its cells from the petals of the 

 Poppy, cutting and adapting them to her purpose 

 most dexterously. The Poppy is one of the plants 

 the seeds of which, if buried deeply in the soil, will 

 retain their power of vegetating, many years. Tull 

 relates an instance of their doing so after being 

 buried twenty-four years. This explains why no 



Papaver hddicaule. 



lengthened fallowing gets rid of this gay weed, and 

 that scarcely a ripening harvest-field is found in 

 which we do not see " merry Poppies, all amid the 

 waving com." 



The Potentilla. — The common name of the 

 Potentilla is Clnquefoil, so named both according to 

 the French cinq and feuilles, and Jjatin cinque foliola, 

 so called from its five 

 leaflets. The generic 

 name Fotentilla is 

 from potens, powerful, 

 from its supposed 

 medicinal quality ; but 

 with the exception of 

 Fotentilla reptans, or 

 Creeping Cinquefoil, a 

 very conmion British 

 plant, none of the 

 species are remarkable 

 for their products or 

 properties. The root 

 of this plant has a 

 bitterish, styptic, 

 slightly sweetish taste, 

 and was formerly usf i? 

 in diarrhoea, and other 

 complaints for which 

 astringents are usually 

 prescribed. 



There are a large 

 number of introduced 

 species of Potentillas, 

 but the many fine 

 hybrids now found in 

 our gardens have, no 

 doubt, been derived 

 from the Bloody Cin- 

 quefoil, P. atrosan- 

 guinea, introduced from 

 Kepaulinl822. There 

 is a British species 

 niimed P. I'ragariastrum, the strawberry-leaved Cin- 

 quefoil ; the leaves greatly resemble those of this 

 fruit, and it is sometimes termed the Barren Straw- 

 berry. But this has only three leaflets instead of 

 flve, and it is considered as the connecting link 

 between the two genera, Fragaria (Sti-awberry) and 

 Fotentilla. 



Nearly all the fine varieties of the present day 

 have Strawberry-like foliage, and the flowers are 

 of many rich shades of colour, excepting blue and 

 purple. Some fine introduced species besiH.BS P. atro- 

 mnguinea have no doubt proved useful aS parents, 

 but excepting in old botanical gardens suiih species 

 are now seldom to be met with. For a 1 >ng time 



