POPPY FAMILY. Papaveraceae. 
4 
There are several kinds of Argemone, natives of the 
warmer parts of America, with bitter, yellow juice, spiny- 
toothed leaves and large, conspicuous flowers, the buds 
erect; sepals two or three, with odd little horns; petals 
twice as many as the sepals; stamens numerous; style very 
short, with a radiate stigma; capsule prickly, oblong, 
opening at the top, containing numerous seeds. 
Thistle Poppy, The prickly, bluish-green foliage of this 
Milk Thistle decorative and handsome plant is thistle- 
Argemone hispida like both in form and color. The leafy, 
White branching stems, two or three feet high, 
Summer 
are covered with dense, white or yellowish 
prickles and-bear several lovely flowers, 
over three inches across, with delicately crumpled, white 
petals and beautiful golden centers, composed of numerous 
yellow stamens, both stem and leaves having a bluish 
‘“‘bloom.”’ The three prickly green sepals each have a 
spine-like beak and form a queer-looking, three-horned 
bud; the pistil has a purplish, cap-shaped stigma, with six 
lobes, and the prickly ovary becomes a very prickly cap- 
sule. This grows in dry places and looks very beautiful 
and striking when we find its fragile flowers waving in the 
wind against a background of hot desert sand. It varies 
a good deal in prickliness and in the form both of plant and 
flower. When there is only one large flower in bloom, 
surrounded by a circle of prickly buds, it suggests a fairy 
princess, guarded by a retinue of fierce warriors. The 
flowers are often quite broad and flat, and then are some- 
times given the prosaic name of Fried-eggs. 
There are many kinds of Papaver; with milky juice, 
leaves lobed or cut, nodding flower buds, showy regular 
flowers, with two or three sepals and four to six petals. 
The stigmas are united to form a disk with rays and the 
fruit is a round or oblong capsule, opening near the top. 
Both the Latin and common name, Poppy, are ancient. 
Opium is made from P. somniferum of the Mediterranean. 
pest tage 
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