BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
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GENUS I. 
THE POPPY. (Papaver, Linnceus.) 
Lin. Syst. POLYANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —“-Sepals 2, convex. Petals 4. Stamens 
numerous. Style none. Stigmata 4-10, radiating, sessile on the top 
of the ovarium. Capsule one-celled, dehiscing by minute valves con¬ 
cealed beneath the projecting rim of the top. Placenta; projecting 
into the cavity, and forming incomplete dissepiments. Herbaceous 
plants, with divided leaves and white milky juice ; the peduncles 
indexed before flowering.—( Lindley .) 
Description, &c. —The milky juice of the true Poppies is always white, while that of most of the other 
genera belonging to the order is yellow. There are several carpels, the number varying from four to twelve, 
enclosed in the fleshy disk, which is dilated, and rises up round them in the same manner as in the capsule of 
the Water Lily. The stigmas of the carpels also remain on, as in that plant, and form a crown to the capsule ; 
but here the resemblance ceases, as the capsule of the Poppy opens naturally by little valves, one to each carpel, 
immediately under the lid of the stigmas. The dilated disk of the Poppy, when young, is fleshy, and when 
wounded with a sharp knife, a white, milky juice exudes, that, when dry, is called opium; but when old, the 
capsule becomes dry, hard, and brittle, as may be seen in the Poppy-heads used for making fomentations, and 
sold in the druggists’ shops. The sides of the carpels form partitions in the young capsule, but, as the seeds 
ripen, the partitions waste away, till at last only very slight remains of them are found in the dry Poppy-heads. 
The seeds are at first attached to these partitions, or dissepiments, as they are called, but they become quite 
loose when ripe. The seeds contain a small embryo, and abundance of albumen, which is partly oily and partly 
floury, but not in the slightest degree narcotic ; and, on this account, the seeds are perfectly wholesome, and are 
used in making oil, and for other purposes. In most of the species the capsule is ribbed on tbe outside, at the 
division of the carpels. The names of Papaver and Poppy are both said to be derived from pap, the food given 
to children, with which opium was formerly frequently mixed, to induce sleep ; but this seems a very far-fetched 
and improbable derivation. 
1.—THE CORN-POPPY. 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 645 ; 2d ed., t. 755 ; and our fig. 2, 
in PI. 6. 
Specific Character. —Capsule smooth, nearly globular, stigma 
(Papaver rh;eas, Lin .) 
many-rayed. Stem many-flowered, rough, like the flower stalks, with 
spreading bristles. Leaves pinnatifid, cut. (Smith.) 
Description, &c.— This, though a troublesome weed in corn-fields, is one of the most showy of the British 
plants; and it is one of the best known, as it is an annual, flowering in June, July, and August, when people 
are frequently in the country. It is most abundant in chalky soils, but it is found more or less in every part 
of England, though it is rare in Scotland. The farmers call it Red-weed. Red-cap, and Corn Rose, in different 
parts of the kingdom, and they find it extremely troublesome; as the seeds are generally ripe just about the 
time that the Corn is cut, and thus mix with the seed Corn, so as to render it difficult to avoid sowing it 
with the Corn the following season. The seeds are black, shining, very small, and very numerous. The wild 
Poppy does not produce much opium ; but what is called Syrup of Poppies is made from its petals, and its 
dried capsules are sometimes sold under the name of Poppy-heads, though they are considered very inferior to 
those of the White Poppy. The seeds are used abroad for making oil; but those produced by plants grown in 
this country have so little oil in them, as not to be worth crushing. According to the heathen mythology, the 
Poppy was raised by Ceres to compose her spirits, when she was in despair at the loss of her daughter 
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