( 53 .) 
PAPA VER* * 
Linnean Class and Order. PoLYA'NDRiAf, Monogy'nia. 
Natural Order. Papavera'ce^J. Juss . — Lindl. Syn. p. 16; 
Introd. to Nat. Syst. p. 8. — Rich, by Macgilliv. p. 497. 
Gen. Char. Calyx inferior, of 2 egg-shaped, concave, blunt, 
equal, deciduous sepals. Corolla of 4 large, roundish, crumpled, 
spreading petals, which are narrowest at the base ; 2 opposite ones 
smallest. Filaments (fig. 1.) numerous, hair-like, much shorter 
than the corolla. Anthers terminal, upright, somewhat stalked, 
oblong, blunt, compressed. Germen large, roundish or oblong. 
Style none. Stigma peltate (shield-shaped), radiated, downy, per- 
manent. Capsule egg-shaped, or inversely egg-shaped, or oblong, 
coriaceous (of a leathery substance), large, of one cell, opening by 
minute valves concealed beneath the permanent stigma. Placentae 
( Receptacles of the seeds J projecting into the cavity, and forming as 
many incomplete dissepiments (partitions) as there are rays of the 
stigma. Seeds very numerous, kidney-shaped, minute, dotted, at- 
tached to the dissepiments. 
Herbaceous plants, with divided leaves, and a white milky juice ; 
the peduncles (flower-stalks) drooping before flowering. Flowers 
large, various in colour, mostly scarlet or yellow, rarely white or 
purplish. Capsules bristly or smooth. — The 2-leaved calyx, 1-celled 
capsule, and sessile radiated stigma, will distinguish this from other 
genera with a tetrapetalous (4-petalled) corolla, in the same class 
and order. 
Six species British. 
PAPA'VER SOMNPFERUM. White Poppy. 
Spec. Char. Capsule nearly globular, smooth as well as the 
calyx and stem. Leaves embracing the stem, notched, glaucous. 
Engl. Rot. t. 2145. — Woodv. Med. Bot. v. iii. p. 503. 1. 185.— Huds. FI. Angl. 
(2nd ed.) p. 231. — Sm. FI. Brit. v. ii. p.568. Eng. FI. v. iii. p. 11. — With. 
(7th ed.) v. iii. p. G48. — Lindl. Syn. p. 17. — Hook. Brit. FI p.256. — Gray’s 
Nat. Arr. v. ii. p. 705. — lion's Gener. Syst. of Gard. and Bot. v. i. p. 131. — 
Sibth. FI. Oxon. p. 166. — Purt. Midi. FI. v.i. p.250. — Relh. FI. Gant. (3rd ed.) 
p. 214. — Hook. FI. Scot. p. 168. — FI. Devon, p. 90. — Walk. FI. of Oxf. p. 149. — 
Mack. Catal. of Plants of Ireland, p. 51. — Papdver Sylvestre, Ray’s Syn. p. 
308. — Johnson’s Gerarde, p. 370. 
Locai.jtifs. — On sandy ground in Fens. Uncultivated places. — Oxford- 
shire ; Near the Observatory, Oxford ; by Gidstow Nunnery : Or. SiBTHonr, 
in FI. Oxon. Cornfields at Mapledurham, plentiful, July 21, 1833 : Mr. 
A. R. Burt — Cambridgeshire ; Waterbeach Fen ; on the banks of the closes 
which separate Denny barm from the Ely Road; Rampton : Rev. R. Ret.- 
han, in FI. Cantab. — Devon; On cliffs between Sidmouth and Branscombe: 
Fig. 1. Stamens. — Fig. 2. Germen and Sessile, radiated Stigma. — Fig. 3. 
Capsule cut through transversely, showing the Placent* projecting into the 
cavity, and forming incomplete partitions. — Fig. 4. A Seed highly magnified. 
* From papa, pap, because it was used with pap, and given to children to 
induce sleep ; a custom, says Dr. Thornton, which has carried thousands to 
the grave. 
t The 13th class in the Linnean Artificial System , containing all those 
plants which have perfect flowers, with more than 20 distinct stamens in each, 
inserted into the receptacle, below the pistil Chypogynous). 
f See Meconopsis Cambrica, page 51. 
