108 



The Flora of Wiltshire. 



Locality. In cultivated fields, especially on a light soil, old walls, 

 and gravelly banks, frequent. A. June, July. Area, 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 



Distributed throughout all the Districts. Perhaps less frequent 

 than " P. ' Rhceas" (Linn.) from which it is distinguished by the 

 thickly accumbent bristles on the flower stalk: these bristles in 

 the other species standing horizontally from each other. The flow- 

 ers too are by no means of so fiery a red, but are somewhat paler. 

 "P. Argemone" (Linn.) which also, although more rarely, grows 

 among the corn, has a club-shaped bristly capsule, small and still 

 paler petals, and bluish an the roc and filaments which are thick 

 above. "P. hybridum" (Linn.) which grows still more rarely in 

 the county, has an almost spherical, sulcated, bristly capsule, dirty 

 dark red flowers, and bright blue antherse. 



"P. somniferum" (Linn.) somniferous or Opium Poppy, White 

 Poppy. Engl. Dot. t. 2145. Reich. Icones, iii./. 4481. 



Locality. Occasionally observed in many parts of the county, on 

 waste and newly turned up ground, building lots, rubbish heaps, 

 and railway embankments. A. Fl. June, August. 



From the exotic origin of this species, I am quite unprepared to 

 state its area of distribution in Wilts. A plant so universal in old 

 gardens, where it is annually carried out with garden refuse to the 

 roadsides, banks of rivers, &c, the seeds retaining their vitality 

 for many years buried in the ground, will readily account for its 

 being frequently observed for a season or two on soil thrown out of 

 deep diggings about the banks of railways, and in newly trenched 

 ground. The "P. somniferum" (Linn.) is one of the most anciently 

 known and described plants ; Homer speaks of the Poppy (mekon) 

 growing in gardens, (II. viii. 306.) so that it appears to have been 

 in cultivation even in that early period: and it is likewise men- 

 tioned by Theophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny. It is one of those 

 plants which are remarkable for the extensive range of their geo- 

 graphical relations; being found in England, especially near the sea, 

 in the fens of the Eastern counties (where it assumes the appear- 

 ance of a wild plant), in France and the rest of Europe, from 

 Portugal to Petersburgh; in the Morea, Egypt, Persia, Japan, 

 Mauritius, &c, &c. Some writers have accounted for its present 



