PAPAVERACEAE 59 



the same holds good of bella, cmileata, simpUcifoUa, and 

 probably of all. Horridula and racemosa are supposed 

 forms of one plant, and rumour threatens that their big 

 purple flowers also fluctuate to dowdy lilacs. 



Grandis is only a promise, so far ; it looks mighty fine 

 and stalwart; Heaven send its beauty be in proportion to 

 its vigour ! But sad experience teaches gardeners that 

 vigour, in a new plant, or fertility of germination in seed, 

 spells ugliness — things that are really worshipful are too 

 apt to be slow to springing and faint in growth. And it 

 will be well to mention here that Meconopsis petiolata is 

 declared a synonymo{ Stylophorum diphyUum by Nicholson, 

 while Mecmiopsis heteropht/lla is a tall Californian annual 

 with very pretty orange-tawny flowers, black-spotted at 

 their base, that smell like Lily of the Valley. Meconopsis 

 nepalensis is a biennial or monocarpous species, carrying 

 very tall spikes of nodding pale yellow flowers high above 

 lovely great fluffy rosettes. It is among the less uncom- 

 mon species, and has never taken my affection captive, 

 probably because it is so like, but so inferior to, its 

 superb cousin Meconopsis Wallichii, the best known of 

 all the exotic species. Meconopsis Wallichii carries spikes 

 similar in foliage, growth, and size to those of nepalensis, 

 but the flowers are, or ought to be, of a pale, bright, 

 silky blue. I say ' ought to be,' for the colour varies 

 dreadfully, and seedlings of one batch will yield, as I 

 have said, besides the celestial tones, most horrid lilacs, 

 brownish purples, faded or dingy shades unworthy of 

 admittance to the garden. At Kew, in the peaty bog- 

 pits, Wallich's Poppy makes a gorgeous show, but here, 

 of course, no such wet treatment is necessary ; any cool 

 peaty corner, in sun or shade, does equally well. Having 

 flowered, the plant dies, and there is, first of all, the 

 anxiety of ascertaining whether it has set any sound seed ; 

 then the trouble of raising it ; then the long waiting 



