CORN POPPY. WILD MUSTARD. 



13 



root is annual. Stem about two feet high, branched, clothed 

 all over with bristly hairs, that all spread horizontally. 

 Leaves pinnatifid, often in some degree bi-pinnatifid, their 

 segments oblong, serrated, and cut, more or less hairy. 

 Flowers sHghtly fetid, and of a deep and most brilHant 

 scarlet-red colour. Capsule quite smooth and even, short 

 and abrupt, with a many-rayed stigma. 



The poppy flowers in June and July, and perfects a pro- 

 fusion of seeds. It delights to grow on waste grounds, and 

 on badly managed cultivated fields ; good tillage soon de- 

 stroys it ; clover and tares, which are cut while the poppy is 

 in flower, generally eradicate it. It will increase rapidly, if 

 the seeds be allowed to ripen ; in some seasons the plant 

 appears in great abundance, and in others, not a plant will 

 be seen. 



8. The Wild mustard, or ^' Sinapis arvensis," is an annual 

 weed of much annoyance on some of the best soils. The 

 " Sinapis " belongs to the class and order " Tetradynamia 

 sihquosa" of Linneus, and the natural order " Cruciferse" of 

 Jussieu. 



Geyieric character. — Calyx : perianth inferior, spreading, 

 divided into four linear, concave, channelled leaves, forming 

 a cross, deciduous. Corolla cruciform, of four rounded, flat, 

 spreading, undivided petals, with erect, linear claws, scarcely 

 the length of the calyx. Nectary composed of four ovate 

 glands, one on each side, between the shorter stamen and the 

 pistil, and one each side between the longer stamen and the 

 calyx. Stamina : filaments six, awl-shaped, erect, the two 

 shorter ones opposite ; anthers erect, spreading, pointed. 

 Pistil : germen superior, cylindrical ; style the length of the 

 germen, and height of the stamens ; stigma capitate, un- 

 divided. Pericarp : pod oblong, inflated unequally at the 

 lower part, rough, of two cells, and two valves ; partition 

 generally twice as long as the valves, large, compressed. 

 Seeds numerous, globular. 



Essential character. — Calyx widely spreading ; claws of 

 the petals straight ; nectariferous glands, four ; pod more or 

 less cylindrical ; the partition longer than the valves. 



