18 
THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
1.—PAPAVER SOMNIFERUM, Lin. THE OPIUM BEARING, OR LARGE WHITE GARDEN POPPY, 
Engravings_ Eng. Dot. t. 2145 ; 2nd edit. vol. v. t. 756 ; 
Wood’s Med. Bot. t. 185 ; and om fig. 4 in Plate 4. 
Specific Character. —Capsules obovate, or globose, smooth. 
Calyx smooth. Stem smooth and glaucous. Leaves stem-clasping, 
repand-toothed, teeth bluntish.—(G. Don.) 
Varieties.— De Candolle mentions two distinct kinds ; one having 
white seeds, and the other black. There are, however, many garden 
varieties, some double and some semi-double; some with fringed 
petals, and others having white petals, delicately bordered with some 
dark colour ; some are variegated, or streaked, aud others of only one 
colour ; all the variations, however, consist of different shades of red or 
purple, mixed with white, and without the slightest tinge of either blue 
or yellow. All the kinds are very ornamental, and when judiciously 
intermixed, they produce a fine effect in a tolerably large garden ; 
though they take up too much room to look well in a very small one. 
The single wild kind has white petals, with a very dark purple or almost 
black spot, at the base of each ; and this is the kind principally culti¬ 
vated in France and Belgium for its seed to make oil, and in Turkey 
and India for opium. The Papaver Marsellei sold in some of the seed- 
shops is the white-seeded variety of this poppy. 
Description, &c. —The white garden, or opium poppy, grows in favourable soils to the height of three or 
four feet. Its leaves are oblong, and sometimes eight inches or ten inches in length, embracing the stem at their base, 
and placed alternately ; they are smooth, rather thick, and of a bluish green. The flowers are produced singly 
at the extremities of the stem and branches. The bud, before it opens, hangs down, but when the flower 
expands, the part of the stem which supports it becomes erect, as though better to display the splendour of its 
colours, and the beauty of its form. The flowers do not last long, either when left in a growing state, or when 
gathered, and they have a disagreeable smell. The capsule is very large, and it is quite smooth. When the 
flowers fall, it is green and succulent, and if wounded yields a milky juice, which, when dry, is the opium 
of the shops. The capsule is surmounted by a kind of lid formed by the extremities of the stigmas ; and 
this cover remains on, even after the seed is ripe, and the capsule becomes hard, dry, and brittle. Under this 
lid arc eight or ten little openings, formed by a little point of each division of the capsule turning down 
immediately under the projecting point of each stigma; these little openings are to discharge the seed. When 
the seeds are first formed they are in slight divisions, but when they become ripe they are quite loose, and may 
be easily shaken out through the little openings without breaking the capsule. The quantity of seeds produced 
is enormous. Linnasus states that he found 32,000 seeds in one single head. The seeds of the kind most com¬ 
monly grown in gardens are black, or very dark brown, and very small; but those of the white-seeded variety 
are much larger, and are flat and oval. The seeds should be used as fresh as possible, as they do not keep. 
The opium poppy is a native of the warmer parts of Asia, but it has been so long grown in Europe that it has 
become, in a great degree, naturalised; and it is found in a wild state not only on the continent, but occasionally 
in Britain. It is extensively grown in Flanders for the oil which is made from its seeds, and it is also cultivated 
for this purpose in the south of Europe. It is cultivated in India for its opium, but the best opium is grown in 
Turkey, and Asia Minor. Opium has been occasionally produced from poppies grown in the south of France 
and in Britain. In 1796, Mr. John Bull, of Williton, obtained a reward from the Society of Arts for cultivating 
the poppy, and obtaining opium from it, “ in no respect inferior to the best Eastern opium.” Mr. Bull calcu¬ 
lated that each poppy produced about a grain of opium, and that more than 50 lbs. of this drug might be collected 
from a statute acre. (See Trans. Soc. Arts , vol. xiv., p. 260—3). Some years afterwards, Mr. Young, a 
surgeon at Edinburgh, also succeeded in procuring opium of excellent quality, and in considerable quantity ; 
and he found that an acre of poppies yielded 56 lbs. of opium, and the seeds 375 quarts of oil. (See Trans. Soc. 
Arts, vol. xxxvii.) These results, however, could only be produced in favourable seasons, and with extraordinary 
care ; and consequently, all attempts to grow opium on a large scale as a profitable speculation in Britain, have 
