522 



DOMESTIC BOTANY. 



of California, the pitchers are at the apex of a flat leaf, and 

 inverted ; in size and appearance they resemble Jargonelle 

 Pears, and are used by the natives as fly traps. The pitchers 

 of Sarracenia purpurea are spotted, as though marked with 

 small-pox, and it is singular that it has been used by the 

 Indians as a cure for that disease, and has been tried in this 

 country for the same purpose, with some fancied degree of 

 success. 



The Poppy Family. 



(Papaverace^.) 



Herbs or rarely shrubs, generally with milky juice. Leaves 

 alternate, entire, lobed or deeply gashed, without stipules. 

 Flowers solitary on long stalks, showy, rarely small, and pa- 

 niculate. Sepals 2 or 3, deciduous. Petals 4 or 6, crumpled 

 in the bud. Stamens numerous. Style short or absent, 

 with a rayed stigma only. Fruit long, siliquiform, 1-celled, 

 or capsular and many-celled, opening by pores at the apex. 

 Seeds numerous. The genus Bocconia is an exception to 

 the general rule, in having panicles of small flowers with- 

 out petals. 



This family consists of 100 species or more. They abound 

 in Europe, extending sparingly eastward into Northern Asia 

 and Japan. Some are also found in Tropical America, but 

 they are scarce in the Southern hemisphere, and in some 

 instances may have been introduced by commerce. They 

 contain a narcotic milky juice, in some of a yellow colour. 



Poppy {Papaver somniferum\ An annual, attaining the 

 height of 3 feet, having large, single white or pink flowers. 

 Its native country is not known, as it has been cultivated 

 from the most remote ages, and was early known in Italy 

 and Greece. It has long been extensively grown in India 

 for its milky juice, which is obtained by scarifying the cap- 

 sules when full grown, but in a green state. The juice soon 

 hardens, is scraped off, formed into balls, and called Opium, 

 from which morphia is obtained. The highly medicinal pro- 

 perties of morphia are well known, and when used with judi- 



