326 Praia. — A Review of the genera 
capsule dehisces under the apex by means of short more or less transverse 
valvular chinks between the placental ribs. In the species of Papaver 
referred to, the vertex of the capsule is a definite disk bearing on its upper- 
surface the radiating stigmas and more or less concealing by its projecting 
margin the chinks through which the seeds escape. In the species of 
Meconopsis cited the capsule has no disk, the chinks by which it dehisces 
are unconcealed, and the apex ends in a persistent style, crowned by the 
clavate or subcapitate slightly lobed stigma. 
The two genera are, however, closely allied, and from the time of 
Tournefort (1694) till that ofViguier (1814) they were united. The differences 
between the two are not always so clearly defined as in the examples 
quoted ; there are species of Papaver , like P. polychaetum , Schott and 
Kotschy (PL XXIV, Figs. 3, 4), one of the species of Papaver which con- 
stitute the section Miltantha , and correspond more or less to the pre- 
Tournefortian genus Argenione , where the chinks of dehiscence are not 
hidden by a projecting disk-margin ; there are other species, like P. sty latum , 
Boiss. and Bah (PI. XXIV, Fig. 5), in the Old World, and like P. Lemmoni t 
Greene, in the New, where the disk projects into a distinct central style. 
On the other hand, a whole group of species of Meconopsis , the Grandes, 
has the stigma as definitely radiating as in any Papaver ; in two species 
of this group, M. punicea^ Maxim., and M. integrifolia , Franch. (PL XXIV, 
Figs. 7, 8), the stigma is not even separated from the body of the capsule 
by an intervening style ; here, however, there certainly is no disk. 
Again, in the Californian group of Meconopsis , the Anomalae , we find 
that at the base of the distinct style the vertex of the capsule is flattened 
and disk-like (PL XXIV, Figs. 9, 10). Here, however, there is not a disk 
such as we have in Papaver dubium with a margin projecting beyond the 
transverse chinks through which the seeds are discharged ; we have merely 
a flattening of that portion of the capsule, in this case somewhat extensive, 
which is interposed between the apices of the valves and the base of the 
style. The same feature, though not to so exaggerated an extent, and 
with the portion between apices of valves and style-base convex instead of 
flat, is met with in M. bella y Prain. In one Meconopsis , however, M. primu- 
lina> Prain, we find that on alternate, but not on all the placental ribs there 
are, at the base of the style, epaulette-like outgrowths which suggest the 
rudiments of a projecting disk-margin. It has now to be recorded that in 
two species of Meconopsis , M. torquata , Prain (PL XXIV, P"ig. 11), and 
M. discigera , Prain (PL XXIV, Fig. 12), described for the first time in the 
systematic portion of this paper, the capsule is surmounted by a true disk, 
the margin of which projects, as in a typical Papaver , beyond the series of 
chinks by which the seeds find egress. 
We have seen that in 1825 D. Don (Prodr. FI. Nepal., 196) did not 
consider the absence of a disk and the presence of a style sufficient justifica- 
