papa] 



Cfje Crcas'ttri? at 2Safamn 



842 



parts of the globe, to which they have been 

 introduced by cultivation or commercial 

 intercourse. The roots are fibrous; the 

 leaves generally lohed or toothed, and 

 hairy; the flower-stalks axillary, solitary 

 without bracts, but terminated by a single 

 flower, with two or three concave decidu- 

 ous sepals, four or six petals, very nume- 

 rous stamens, and an ovary of four or more 

 carpels conjoined, and capped by a radiating 

 compound stigma. The fruit is capsular, 

 with parietal placentas projecting into the 

 interior, opening by pores or short valves, 

 beneath the projecting margin of the stig- 

 ma. 



The Field Poppy, P. Rhceas, one of the 

 most brilliant of our wild plants, decorat- 

 ing cornfields, railway-banks, and waste 

 places with a perfect blaze of crimson flow- 

 ers, is distinguished from the other British 

 species by its smooth and globular fruits, 

 and by the bristles which clothe the stem 

 spreading out almost at right angles with 

 it. The petals are collected for the purpose 

 of making a coloured syrup, which has at 

 the same time very slight narcotic proper- 

 ties. The seeds might possibly be used for 

 the oil they contain, and they are by no 

 means destitute of nutritive properties. 

 Double-flowered varieties of various co- 

 lours are not unfrequently grown in gar- 

 dens as highly ornamental annual plants. 

 P. dubium, frequently met with in some 

 parts of the country, is a smaller more slen- 

 der plant than P. Bhosas, and may be at 

 once distinguished by the capsule which is 

 twice as long as broad, and by the bristles 

 which are flattened up against the stem. 

 P. hi/bridum is less branched than the Field 

 Poppy, which it greatly resembles, but 

 differs in the filaments of the stamens, 

 which are dilated from below upwards, and 

 in the capsule, which, though globular, is 

 covered with stiff bristles. This species 

 is rare in this country. P. Argemone is the 

 smallest of the British poppies ; its capsule 

 is in shape like that of P. dubium, but it 

 has a few stiff hairs or bristles which are 

 directed upwards. Several species are cul- 

 tivated in English gardens for ornamental 

 purposes, the most beautiful being P. orien- 

 tate, and some varieties of the Opium 

 Poppy. A variety of the former, with the 

 petals united so as to form afunnel-shaped 

 corolla, has been recently introduced. 



The Opium Poppy, P. somniferum, is sup- 

 posed originally to have been a native of 

 the Levant, but is now widely distributed. 

 The writer has observed it growing on the 

 cliffs between Folkestone and Dover, and 

 also in other places where it had more ob- 

 viously been introduced. The plant varies 

 much in the colour of its flowers and seeds, 

 and in gardens double varieties are com- 

 mon. In general it forms an erect annual 

 plant, slightly branched, about two feet in 

 height, with the stem and leaves of a glau- 

 cous green colour, usually without bristles, 

 but sometimes, especially in wild speci- 

 mens, with a few straggling hairs. The 

 leaves are oblong in shape, irregularly 

 sinuous at the margin, and clasp the stem 

 by their base. The flowers are usually of a 



light-violet colour with a purple centre. 

 The Opium Poppy is cultivated in this 

 country for the sake of its capsules, from 

 which syrup of poppies is prepared, a fa- 

 vourite remedy for children when a seda- 

 tive is required ; but owing to the varying 

 strength of the preparation, its liability to 

 adulteration with laudanum, &c, and the 

 frequent great susceptibility of children to 

 the influence of opium in any shape, it 

 should be used only with great caution, 

 and its operation should be carefully watch- 

 ed. A decoctio.i of poppy-heads is often 

 employed as an anodyne fomentation, and 

 with excellent effect ; an extract of poppy- 

 heads is also occasionally used in minute 

 doses in place of opium. 



The seeds contain a large quantity of oil, 

 which is extracted as an article of food, 

 and for the use of painters. Olive oil is 

 stated to be adulterated with it ; an inter- 

 mixture of comparatively little conse- 

 quence, as the oil is destitute of narcotic 

 properties. The seeds them selves, in Greece, 

 Poland, and elsewhere, are eaten as articles 

 of food, and have an agreeable nut-like 

 flavour. 



It is, however, for producing opium that 

 this plant is especially cultivated in India, 

 Persia, Asia Minor, Egypt, &c.,and it seems 

 to have been cultivated for this purpose 

 from the earliest times of which Ave have 

 any record, at least so far as Greece is con- 

 cerned. The word opium is derived from 

 the Greek opos, juice, as being the especial 

 juice, just as cinchona bark is called bark. 



Two varieties of the plant are cultivated 

 for the production of opium, one with vio- 

 let-coloured or white flowers and black 

 seeds, the other with white seeds and flow- 

 ers. These two kinds are mentioned by 

 Hippocrates. The latter is the one most 

 generally cultivated in India. A very full 

 account of the manufacture, as well as of 

 the properties of opium, is contained in 

 Dr. Pereira's Materia Medica, and in the 

 Pharmaceutical Journal for 1852. From 

 these sources, as well as from the Kew 

 Garden Miscellany (vol. vi.), the following 

 remarks have been condensed. The pre- 

 paration of the drug seems to be conducted 

 in much the same way in the various dis- 

 tricts whence opium is obtained, but in 

 some much greater care is taken than in 

 others. In India a very large extent of 

 country is devoted to the cultivation of the 

 Opium Poppy, and at Behar and Benares 

 are government agencies established for 

 the purpose of regulating the manufacture, 

 insuring the purity of the drug, &c. "When 

 the flowers are in bloom the first step is 

 the removal of the petals, which are used 

 in packing the prepared drug. After a few 

 days the imperfectly ripened capsules are 

 scarified from above downwards by two 

 or three knives tied together and called 

 'nushturs.' These make a superficial in- 

 cision, or series of incisions, into the cap- 

 sule.whereupon a milky juice exudes, which 

 is allowed to harden and is then removed 

 and collected in earthen pots. The time 

 of day chosen for slicing the capsules is 

 about three o'clock in the afternoon, when 



