PAPA'VER AMCE'NUM. 
PLEASING POPPY. 
Class. 
POLY.4NDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
pa paveracea:. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Introduced 
India. 
2f feet. 
June, July. 
Annual. 
in 1838. 
No. 1 153. 
The word Papaver, it is said, was derived from 
the Celtic papa, signifying pap, in allusion to the 
juice of the Poppy having been used as a sedative 
in the food or pap given to children. From papa, 
the Latins adopted the name papaver; the Anglo- 
Saxons, papig ; the English Poppy; and the French 
pavot. 
Opium, the produce of the Poppy, (Papaver som- 
niferum) seems to have been known both to the 
Greeks and Egyptians, several hundred years before 
the Christian era; and from thence to the present 
day its use has been continued as an antidote to 
pain, both bodily and mental. 
Whether the beautiful Papaver amoenum, now 
published, has administered to the obliviousness of 
Indians we have no information. It was raised in 
the London Horticultural Society s Gardens, from 
seeds, which had been received from the North of 
India, from Dr. Falconer. It requires no further 
attention than common annuals ; and its white-based, 
very brilliant, vermillion flowers, especially should 
they hereafter be produced double, will excel the 
admired Ranunculus Poppy. 
289 . 
