NAT. ORDER. 
Papaveracce. 
PAP AVER ORIENT ALE. EASTERN POPPY. 
Class XIII. Polyandria. Order I Monogynia. 
Gen. Char. Corolla, four-petalled. Calyx, two-parted. Capsule, 
one-celled, opening by pores under the persistent stigma. 
Spe. Char. Calyces and Capsules, smooth. Leaves, incised, and 
embracing the stem. 
The root is perennial, creeping, branched, and somewhat 
jointed or knotty ; the stalk is generally erect, and rises from three 
to four feet in height, branched, of a glaucous green color, round, 
and cylindrical ; the leaves, which are always very large, are al- 
ternately placed upon the stalks, lobed, deeply cut into various 
segments, and very closely embracing the stem ; the jlowers are 
large, solitary, and terminal ; the calyx consists of two very smooth 
ovate, concave segments, which fall when the flower expands ; 
the petals are large, roundish, entire, somewhat undulated, and of a 
beautiful orange red color ; the filaments are numerous, slender, 
shorter than the corolla, and support erect, compressed anthers ; 
the germen is roundish, with a many-rayed stigma ; the capsule is 
smooth, large, and filled with a large number of small seeds. 
This species of the Poppy is a native of the warm regions 
of Asia. In Persia and Arabia it is extensively cultivated for the 
manufacturing of opium, for which purpose it is considered but 
little, if at all, inferior to the Papaver somniferum. Every part 
of the plant possesses the peculiar odor and taste of opium ; but 
the milky juice, which is the active ingredient, principally resides 
in the capsules, and is gathered in a similar manner as that of the 
Vol. Hi.— 19 
