POPPY FAMILY 



The Sleep-Bearing Poppy is the best known of its race and the 

 most variable. As it now appears it is, of course, a hybrid, marked 

 with the strains of many forebears, which show in the infinite vari-^ 

 ations of color, size, and form; yet, notwithstanding all vagaries, 

 at base the prepotent primitive persists. 



There is something marvellously fine about the Poppy. Its ro- 

 bust health, the nodding grace of the buds, the airy poise of the 

 fully opened flower, the silky tissue of the petals, and the bold 

 riot of color which "against the light or with the light is a flame 

 and warms the wind." 



The chief objection to the Poppy is the shortness of the flower- 

 ing season, and the death of the plant immediately after; thus 

 leaving its place in the garden bare in niidsummer. A wonderful 

 burst of color for two or three weeks and all is over! This gives 

 a problem that has to be, met by all who, grow poppies. 



The Poppy doubled under cultivation long ago, and has devel- 

 oped along two main types, knOwn asJhe peony-flowered and the 

 carnation-flowered. The carnation-flowered have fringed petals, 

 the peony-flowered have not. Many different strains of each 

 type are in the market, and there is probably no Umit to the num- 

 ber of varieties that may be produced. 



A variety of Papaver somniferum grown extensively in Persia, 

 , India, and China produces the opium of commerce. This is the 

 milky juice which issues from shallow cuts made in the young 

 capsules, thickens and darkens as it exudes, and becomes crude 

 opium. Opium can be made wherever the Poppy will grow, 

 but cheap labor makes it profitable in the East. 



The seeds have no narcotic properties and are sold for bird 

 food under the name of maw seed. In the East a valuable oil is 

 obtained from them. 



Papaver is a genus of about fifty species, mosdy natives of the 

 Mediterranean region. One species is reported from South Africa, 

 one from AustraUa, and there is one in California. Curiously 

 enough the California Poppy of the gardens is not a true Papaver, 

 but an allied genus. 



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