THE YOUNG NATUEA.LIST. 



243 



wliere the stamens are few, whilst in 

 the poppy there is an enormous expen- 

 diture of pollen, which is produced so 

 abundantly that great part is wasted. 

 As the poppy secretes no nectar, its 

 immense stores of pollen prove attrac- 

 tive to insects, aided by the great col- 

 oured expanse of the corolla, and the 

 dull heavy odour, which to us is dis- 

 agreeable, may be pleasant to them. 

 The large capsule is crowned with 

 the persistent disk-like stigma, un- 

 der the projecting eave-like edges 

 of which it opens by little pores, 

 through which the small seeds escape. 

 When cut across, it discloses a number 

 of ridges equalling in number the rays 

 of the stigma, projecting into the inter- 

 nal cavity and bearing the minute seeds 

 scattered over their surface. Although 

 now so abundant and generally distri- 

 buted in this country, poppies are not 

 considered to be truly indigenous but 

 are regarded as colonists, introduced 

 with cereals, when agricultural super- 

 seded pastoral occupations in our 

 Islands. In support of this view it 

 may be noted that poppies are essen- 

 tially weeds of cultivated fields, being 

 always associated with tillage, dis- 

 appearing when the ground is not dis- 

 turbed for any lengthened period. On 

 the other hand, they spring up most 

 unaccountably when ground is broken 

 up for the first time, even if previous 

 cultivation had seemed impossible. 

 Thus in cutting railways through 



gravel beds the slopes have speedily 

 become covered with a crop of poppies, 

 giving rise to unsolvable problems as 

 to whether the seeds had lain dormant 

 for previous untold ages, or whether 

 they had been conveyed by some occult 

 agency to the receptive soil. By what- 

 ever means they have been dissemina- 

 ted, the fact is now only too patent, 

 that poppies, like other weeds, are far 

 too prevalent for the comfort of the 

 farmer, although it used to be consid- 

 ered indicative of good land where 

 poppies throve. Whatever claims the 

 ordinary field poppies may have to be 

 considered natives, there can be no 

 doubt that the common garden poppy 

 (P. somnifemm) has been introduced 

 at a comparatively recent period from 

 the East. It is very frequent in cot- 

 tage gardens, and may often be found 

 as an escape from cultivation. It may 

 be readily known by its smooth leaves 

 and stem, covered with a glaucous 

 coating which can easily be rubbed off 

 like the bloom on certain grapes. 

 Normally the flowers are while or 

 bluish, but varying shades of scarlet 

 occur, and they often become double. 



As is well known, this poppy is the 

 source of opium, which in its varied 

 forms of laudanum, &c., has been 

 diversely estimated as one of the great- 

 est blessings, or one of the vilest curses 

 to the human race. As a medicinal 

 agent for alleviating pain and inducing 

 soothing if not refreshing sleep, its 



