By Thomas Bruges Flower, Esq. 



109 



naturalized state, by supposing it to have escaped formerly from, 

 the gardens of the curious, having been originally brought into 

 this county together with the opium of commerce from the East. 

 The flowers are solitary, the calyx bisepalous, falling off as the 

 flower expands. Corolla tetrapetalous, Stamina hypogynous, a 

 single pistil, which has no style, but having a radiating persistent 

 stigma which forms the crown of the ovary. The germen or cap- 

 sule goblet- shaped, one celled, formed of three or more carpels, 

 which are modified leaves. The seeds, (which are beautiful micro- 

 scopic objects) are attached to parietal placentae, escaping through 

 little orifices or opercula beneath the radiated stigma ; each oper- 

 culum being guarded by a delicate valve, which closes in damp and 

 opens in dry weather. 



There are two principal varieties of the " Papuver somniferum," 

 (Linn.) a. nigrum, "P. somniferum," (Gmelin) and b. album, P. offi- 

 cinale, (Grmelin.) These have been considered by some botanists to 

 form two distinct species. De Candolle however, whose Prodromus 

 is the latest work of authority, retains them as varieties merely, 

 and as such we shall here consider them. The plants are common 

 in gardens, where they are cultivated for the gaudy beauty of their 

 variously coloured flowers. These are single, semi-double, or double, 

 in var. a. purple, rose or lilac, variegated, and edged with the same 

 colours, never blue, nor yellow, generally with a black or purple 

 mark at the bottom of each petal. In var. b. the petals are 

 white or red. The petals in both varieties are entire toothed or 

 fringed. The seeds of var. a. are dark coloured, and are sold un- 

 der the name of mawseed for birds ; those of var. b. are white, and 

 will answer the same purpose. The plant which grows sponta- 

 neously about Petersburgh has however white flowers, with dark 

 coloured seeds, and by thus combining the characters of the two 

 varieties, seems to establish their claim to form but a single species. 

 According to Linnaeus, a capsule of "P. somniferum" contained 

 32,000 seeds, a wonderful example of vegetable fecundity. The 

 plant abounds in a milky juice, which is collected from superficial 

 incisions made in the capsule, through the epicarp into the mesocarp 

 or diploe, taking care not to carry the incisions through the endo- 



