
=—-* od 
4 

PLANTS GROWING IN DRY SOIL. 275 
But the farmer and the artistic eye seem to be always at 
variance. He understands the seriousness of things and re- 
gards the plant as an impudent foreigner that has secured first 
a footing, then a home, and finally a kingdom in his corn fields, 
‘The cockle is also alarmingly clever. It mixes its black seeds 
with those of the grain and so increases its dominion every 
year. ‘They draw tears of lamentation from the sturdy miller 
who prides himself on his flour’s purity and whiteness. 
The plant also contains a poisonous ingredient called sapo- 
nin which is freely soluble in water and when inhaled produces 
violent sneezing. It is known that a small quantity of bread 
that contains these seeds if eaten regularly will produce a pe- 
culiar chronic disease. 
CALIFORNIA POPPY. (Plate CXZ/7) 
Eschscholtzta Californica. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Poppy. Orange rea or yellow. Juice, like muri= California. JSune-September. 
atic acid. 
Flowers: large; solitary. Calyx: of two sepals that form a pointed cap 
which drops off as the petals expand. Corolla: of four concave petals. Sta- 
mens: numerous. Capsule: one-celled and covered by the compound stigma. 
Leaves: dissected, pale, glaucous. Stem; twelve to eighteen inches high; 
the end dilated into a top-shaped receptacle with a broad rim upon which are 
the stamens. /wzce : watery; narcotic.. 
“ How gently, O sleep, 
fall thy poppies on me!”—ED. JOHNSON. 
The flowers from which the illustration was taken, were 
picked in Santa Rosa, California. There, to see the fields 
aglow with the silky, flame-coloured beauties, which have every 
variety of tint from pale yellow to deep orange, is most en- 
chanting, 
At one time, when China wished to prevent the large use of 
opium which is extracted from the opium poppy, she destroyed 
an immense quantity of plants that belonged to British mer- 
chants and as a result became involved in her first war with 
England. To this poppy, therefore, is due the opening of China 
and Japan to the commerce of the world, 
