THE POPPY FAMILY 
[ORDER IV. PAPAVERACE.®] 
CALYX OF 2—3 SEPALS, inserted below 
the seedcase (hypogynous), falling off as the 
flower opens (caducous). 
COROLLA OF 4 PETALS, not united (free), 
often crumpled in bud, inserted below the 
seedcase (hypogynous). 
STAMENS, numerous, inserted below the 
seedcase (hypogynous). 
PISTIL OF 1 CARPEL, with the style 
short or absent, and the stigma divided into 
from 2 — 20 lobes, spreading ray-like, on a 
small flat disk, on the top of the seedcase 
(ovary). 
FRUIT, a capsule, 1 -celled with membranous 
divisions, opening by pores or valves, 
many -seeded. 
FLOWERS, conspicuous, solitary or in 
clusters. 
STEMS, with a milky juice. 
LEAVES, alternate or only from the root 
(radical), usually divided, without sti- 
pules. 
DISTINGUISHED BY the 2 sepals which 
fall as the flower opens, the 4 petals, the 
many stamens inserted below the seedcase, 
and the capsular fruit. 
T HIS family is easily recognised by its 2 sepals, 4 petals, and capsular fruit. 
It is a small order, belonging chiefly to the north temperate zone, though the Prickly Poppy, 
the Mexican Argemone, is common all through the tropics. The vivid beauty of its gorgeous and 
yet delicate flowers is> too well known to need description. As a weed it is an enemy to the 
farmer, but as a garden flower it is a perpetual joy. The brilliant little Eschscholtzia of our 
gardens is a member of the order. 
The Poppy is known far and wide as a medicine and poison. The plants abound in a 
milky juice, highly narcotic in some species. It is this juice in the Opium Poppy (Papaver 
somniferum), which abounds in all parts of the plant, but especially in the capsule, which is 
opium, and from which we obtain morphia and laudanum. An invaluable drug and an 
insidious poison. 
POPPY. (PAPAVER, LINN .) — Flowers showy, solitary, erect, drooping in bud. Sepals 2, 
rarely 3, falling off as the flower opens; petals 4, crumpled in bud; stamens numerous. Carpel 1, 
with no style, and the stigma spreading star-like into 4-20 rays on the flat disk on the top of the 
seedcase. Fruit a capsule opening by small pores immediately beneath the disk to free the 
numerous seeds. Herbs with leaves usually lobed and a milky juice. 
* Opium Poppy. (Papaver somniferum, Linn.)— Not a native. Flower large, white, 
with a purple stain at the base of each petal, but varying much in colour and number of the petals 
