RANUNCULACEZ. 401 
The Poppies are herbs with a white milky juice, with dentate 
leaves; the leaves emanating from the root are petiolate; those 
issuing from the stem are sessile, or embracing. Their peduncles, 
solitary, unifloral, are inclined before inflorescence. 
We select for description three kinds of Poppy. oe 
1. The Corn Poppy (Papaver rheas) is very common in the 
corn-fields, cultivated ground, and by road sides, and forms, along 
with the Corn Centaury, the most graceful orna- 
ment, although it is the last plant the farmer 
would see in his fields; its specific name is de- 
rived from Tova, pomegranate, which the capsule 
is supposed slightly to resemble. (Fig. 404.) 
Its mucilaginous, acid, bitter petals are emollient 
and slightly narcotic. 
2. The Poppy of the East, or Tournefort’s 
Poppy, has scarlet or orange-coloured petals, with 
black and purple-coloured aiglets; differs but little Fig. 404. 
from the bracteated Poppy (Papaver bractiatum). Cave ot the Pons: 
3. The Narcotic Poppy (Papaver somniferum), of which there are 
two varieties: one, the White Poppy (Fig. 405), so called because 
the seed is generally white, is the variety cultivated for the purpose 
of extracting opium ; the other is the Black Poppy, because the seed 
is black, and which furnishes sweet oil, known under the name of 
Poppy Oil. This oil, in spite of the narcotic influence, is found to 
be perfectly wholesome, and is extensively used for its own quali- 
ties, as well as to adulterate Olive Oil. It is well known that 
opium is nothing more than the thickened juice of the White 
Poppy. The juice flows out from an incision made in the ovary 
a little before ripening. 
The history of the Opium Poppy is very obscure as to the date 
of its first cultivation, but it was well known to the Greeks, and was 
cultivated for its seeds, as we learn from Theophrastus. It is also 
described by the Arab authors under the name of “ Afeesgou.” The 
White Poppy is supposed to be a native of Asia Minor, or of 
Persia, but it is nowhere found in a wild state. It is distinguished 
by obovate or globular capsules, which, as well as the calyx, are 
smooth ; the stem smooth and glaucous ; leaves embracing the stem, 
and incised and obtusely dentate; the flowers are usually red, of 
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