328 
Praia . — A Review of the genera 
urgently called for on morphological grounds. In spite of the many 
directions in which the one genus approaches the other, the differences 
between them never absolutely disappear, and it is still not only possible 
but easy to distinguish any species of Meconopsis hitherto reported from 
every species of Papaver as yet described. All that seems necessary is 
some modification in the popular conception of both genera, and some 
amendment in the usual definition of Meconopsis. 
It is not as regards the gynoecium alone that modification of idea and 
definition is required. In Papaver , while one or two species have 3 sepals 
and 6 petals, the majority have 2 sepals and 4 petals in two pairs, an 
arrangement so characteristic of the natural family Papaveraceae as to have 
received the name ‘ papaveroid.’ With few exceptions 1 the definitions of 
Meconopsis credit the genus with this arrangement and number of parts. 
But although it be true that every Meconopsis so far known has only 
2 sepals, one-third of the species have more than 4 petals ; when this is so, 
the petals are disposed as they are in the genus Sanguinaria. This arrange- 
ment is met with in M. horridnla (group Aculeatae ) ; in M. primulina , 
M. Henrici , and M. Delavayi (group Primnlinae') ; in M. integrifolia , 
M. simplicifolia> M. grandis , and sometimes in M. pnnicea (group Grandes ). 
Even in those groups in which the arrangement occurs, it is not in any case 
characteristic of the whole group ; it does, however, appear usually to be 
almost, if not quite, characteristic of individual species. In the systematic 
portion of this paper two more species, in which the corolla is ‘ sanguinarioid * 
and not ‘ papaveroid/ have to be dealt with. 
During 1899-1901 a journey was made in Tibet by Capt. P. K. 
Koslov. Circumstances led to his wintering just below the level of the 
Tibetan plateau in the valley of the Ra-chu, one of the head-waters of the 
Mekong 2 . In this locality, situated approximately in Ion. 97 0 30' E. and 
lat. 29 0 30' N., some of the members of Koslov’s party made a collection 
of seeds for the Imperial Botanic Garden, St. Petersburg. A number of 
the seeds thus obtained were sent by Dr. Fischer de Waldheim to Mr. A. K. 
Bulley, Neston. Among the plants raised by Mr. Bulley was a Meconopsis 
(group Grandes) with sanguinarioid yellow flowers. This plant was figured 
by Mr. Bulley (Flora and Sylva, iii. 80) in 1905 as M. integrifolia , a species 
which it indeed resembles and to which it is nearly related, but from which 
it differs much as M. simplicifolia differs from M. grandis. Another 
example of this species, presented by Mr. Bulley to Kew, flowered in the 
Alpine Garden there in May, 1906. Having thus had an opportunity of 
studying it and M. integrifolia side by side in the living state, the writer 
has been able to confirm the opinion already expressed by Bulley (Flora 
1 Hooker and Thomson in their Flora Indica, published in 1855, were the first to give a correct 
definition. 
2 Journ. Roy. Geogr. Soc., xix. 589 (1902). 
