142 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIE 
I, Red Poppy. 
Papffver rlhtas. 
The root is long, white, and fiender, and has 
very ttw iibres. 
The firft -leaves, which rifa immcdiateiy from 
ie are large', long, of a- pale green, deeply jagged, 
and without footftalks. 
In the centre of thefe rifes the fialk» which is 
round, weak, of a pale green, and hairy; it is 
two feet liigh, tolerably crei51:, and divided into 
fevcral branches. 
The leaves on it are placed irregularly, and re- 
femble thofe from the root, but that they are more 
deeply jagged, and divided at the edges : thefe 
alfo are of a paie green, and hairy, -and they and 
the whole of the plant abound with a yellow bit- 
ter juice. 
The flowers are very large, and of a bright 
fcarlet, with numerotis threads in the centre on 
which ftand black buttons. 
The feed-vefiel is fmall, oblong, and crowned 
with a flat head : the feeds are very numerous. 
• It if* common in our corn-fields, and flowers 
in July. 
C. Bauhine calls it Pcipaver erratimm mnjus. 
Others, Papaver erraticum^ Papciver ruirtim, and 
Fiipaver i &<eas. 
The flower is fometiitres- white, and fomctimcs 
variegated. We fee this a little in nature, and 
much more fo in gardens, where culture renders' 
It very beautiful. - • ' 
' The rca4er is not tb undcrftand by this, that 
all the beautiful garden poppies are produced from 
this fpecies; for many of them, indeed the greater 
part, are from the other; next to be defcribed: 
the fmalier, in general, are from this, and they 
are very beautiful, and very numerous. 
2. Wild white Poppy. 
Papa-ver album, Jyhspre, 
The root is long, flmple, and white, and has 
few fibres. 
The ftalk is round, upright, firm, and a yard 
high : the leaves ftand irregularly on it, and are 
very large, and of a bluifli green. 
They have no footftalks, but enclofe the ftalk 
at the bafe, and from thence grow fmalier to the 
point : they are notched at tlie edges, and 
fmooth. 
The flowers ftand at the tops of the branches, 
into which the ftalk divides at the upper part : 
they are very large, but of no great" beauty : 
their colour is white, with a faint blufli of a 
deadifli purple ; and they have large black fpots, 
one at the bottom of each petal. 
The feed-veflel is round and large, of a bluifti 
green, and full of irregular, rough, white feeds. 
The whole plant is perfcdtly fmooth, and 
throughout of the fame bluiflr green colour. 
It is common wild in Ireland. We fee it in un- 
cultivated places fometimes-in England; but it 
feems to have arifen from feeds fcattercd from 
fome garden, tn Ireland it is faid to be found 
far from any houfe. 
3. Black Poppy. 
Papaver nigrum. 
The root is long, flendcr, and divided : it has 
few fibres, and is of a whitifli mjour. . . _r 
ThsJirft leaves ate fmal!, anJincoWlieraMfei 
the/ a*e long; nmow, dividetf deepr/ at tS 
edges, and have no footftalks. 
Among thefe riles the ftalk, which is round, 
thick, upright, and a foot and a half high. 
The leaves ftand alternately, and diffS- greit& 
Irom thofe which rife firft l,om the rootT they 
are large, and have no footftalks : their co- 
lour is a blackifli green, and they arc deeply 
jagged. 
Tbe flowa- is large; and there ufually, in the 
wdd ftate ot the plant, ftands oidy one on the top 
of the ftalk : it is of a deep colour, between blue 
and black, and lijis a tuft of threath in the ceMi'i 
The fced-vefl-cl is round, and moderately 
large, and the iceds are numerous, fmall, and 
black. 
It is found wild in the northern parts of Ire- 
land, far from any place where the" I'ecds could 
be- fujipofed tt> -K ftatterecJ. it flowers in Au 
guft.- 
C. B-iuhine calls it Papaver hortcnfe fiinine m- 
gro. 
I.ilina;us confiders this only as a variety of 'the 
other preceding : bat, however they may rV- 
femble one another when brought into gardeiis 
from the efFeft of culture, or the mixture per- 
haps of their farins, they arc, whtn in their 
wild and natural ftate, pcrfetflly dlftinft. 
Both thefe are brought into gardens for ufe 
and beauty, and the varieties rAifed from them 
by culture are innumerable. 
The black is not much regarded as a medi- 
cine ; but the white poppy, we have defcribed 
he-re in its wild ftate, is the famous plant, which 
being properly aflifted by culture, aftbrds in 
this country the foppj-heads, of which our fy- 
rup of diacodium is made ; and in Turkey, and 
other parts of the Eaft, yields opium. 
The plant continnes the fame in all rcfpefts 
but fize when it is thus cultivated ; and the 
greateft variation in this refpcft is in the head, 
which in the wild ftate are not larger than a chef- 
nut, but by culture is equal to a large apple. 
The virtues of all thefe, and thofe of the fe- 
veral fucceeding kinds of poppies, are the fame; 
but they enjoy them in a dift'erent degree. 
They are all foporifick, and of wonderful vir- 
tue againft pain. 
The black poppy is fuppofed to have fomething 
poifonous; but altogether without reafon. We 
have lliewn that it difi^ers little from the white in 
form, and it is Icfs diftijrent in its virtue : how- 
ever, the white is in repute, and is moft, indeed 
almoft only uftd. 
The flowers of the red poppy are gently fopori- 
fick, and are peeuliarly good in pleurilies : tfiey 
have been extolled by many as a fpecifick in that 
diforder: they arc alfo good in quinfies, ajij in 
all difordersof the breaft. 
Our 
