340 
Prain . — A Review of the genera 
conditions in the Himalayan country still to be explored are similar to 
those known to prevail in the portions as to which we already possess some 
information. If this should prove to be really the case we may expect to 
find that in the genus Meconopsis there are possibly some forty distinct 
forms. 
Properties. 
The properties of the species of Meconopsis are obscure. According 
to Don the root of M. paniculata is poisonous ; the statement must 
obviously have been derived from a note by Wallich, and no doubt repre- 
sents what Wallich was told by native collectors in Nepal. According to 
Hooker and Thomson, the natives of Sikkim are of the same belief as 
regards M. Wallichii , and according to Stewart the natives of Chamba 
think the same of M. aculeata. O’Shaughnessy, however, found that 
M. aculeata did not have much effect on lower animals, and although 
Honigberger has included this species among his officinal plants of Kashmir, 
he only remarks that it is ‘ said to be’ narcotic, and indicates its use in 
cases of c troubled sight.’ Dymock, Warden, and Hooper have examined 
the roots of M. Wallichii chemically, but impute to it neither deleterious 
nor useful properties. In the £ Dictionary of the Economic Products of India,’ 
v. 19 7, 198 (1891), Watt has been unable to add any further information on 
the subject. Watt’s remarks as to the medicinal properties imputed to 
M. nipalensis belong, it should be noted, to M. aculeata . They are derived 
from Honigberger and refer to Kashmir. In the first place neither the 
true M . napaulensis nor M. paniculata (the plant which Watt terms 
M. nipalensis) occurs in Kashmir ; moreover, Honigberger gives a figure of 
the plant intended by him as M. nepalensis . This figure is a good repre- 
sentation of the spiny, blue Poppy of Kashmir, M. aculeata. 
Meconopsis, Vig. 
Hist. Pav. Diss., 20 (1814) ; DC. Syst., ii. 86, Stylophoro excl. (1821) ; 
Bernh., Linnaea, viii. 462 (1833); EndL, Gen., 836 (1841); Benth. & 
Hook, fi, Gen. PL, i. 52 (1862) ; BailL, Hist, des Plantes, iii. 140 (1872) ; 
Prantl & Kundig, Nat. Pflanzenfam., iii. 2, 141 (1889). 
Sepala 2. Petala nunc 4, nunc 5-9. Stamina 00. Ovarii placentae 
4- 00 nerviformes vel plus minusve intrusae ; stylus saepissime distinctus, 
raro obsoletus ; stigmatis clavati vel depresso-dilatati lobi decurrentes 
contigui vel radiantes divaricati placentis oppositi. Capsula ovoidea, 
oblonga vel rarissime anguste cylindracea vertice saepius in stylum sensim 
attenuata, aliquando in discum astigmaticum circa basin styli explanata, 
valvis brevibus placentas styloque persistentes nudantibus dehiscens. 
Semina scrobiculata raphe cristata vel nuda. — Herbae saepissime mono- 
carpicae nonnunquam tamen perennantes succo flavo. Folia integra vel 
