26 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
Proserpine, and wandered through the world in search of her ; and as Ceres was the Goddess of Wheat, the 
Poppy very naturally took its place in corn-fields. It is in allusion to this fable that one of the older poets 
says:— 
“ Indulgent Ceres knew its worth, 
When to adorn the teeming earth, 
She bade the Poppy rise ; 
Not merely gay the sight to please, 
But blessed with power, mankind to ease, 
And close the aching eyes. 
Seize, happy mortals, seize the good, 
One field supplies thy sleep and food. 
And makes thee truly blest; 
With plenteous meals, enjoy the day, 
In slumbers pass the night away, 
And leave to heaven the rest.” 
The Poppy was one of those herbs which were formerly thought of no efficacy unless they were gathered when 
the moon shone. Culpeper mentions this in his very curious work called the English Physician , which was 
published in the time of the Commonwealth (1652), and he adds :—“ Of the juice of it is made opium; only, 
for the lucre of money, they will cheat you, and tell you it is a kind of tear, or some such like thing, that drops 
from Poppies when they weep ; and that is somewhere beyond the sea, I knoio not where beyond the moon" In 
some country places the young girls try a species of divination with the Poppy; placing one of the petals in 
the hollow of the left hand, and striking it sharply with the right, when, if the petal snapped, it was considered 
a proof that the lover was constant, while, if it made no noise, the lover was supposed unfaithful. 
“ By a prophetic Poppv-leaf I found 
Your changed affection—for it gave no sound, 
Though in my hand struck hollow, as it lay ; 
But quickly withered, like your love, away.” 
2.— THE LONG SMOOTH-HEADED POPPY. (Papaver dubium, Lin.) 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 644 ; 2d ed., t. 754. | many-flowered, hairy. Bristles on the flower-stalks close-pressed. 
Specific Character. —Capsule smooth, oblong, angular. Stem j Leaves doubly pinnatifid. (Smith.) 
Description, &c.— This species is very common in many parts of England, particularly in light sandy 
soils. It is an annual, and flowers in June and July. It very closely resembles the common Corn Poppy ; but 
the flowers are rather paler and larger, and the hairs on the flower-stalk are pressed closely to the stem, giving 
them a silky appearance, instead of spreading horizontally as in the common Poppy. The leaves are also much 
more deeply cut. When the petals have fallen, the difference is still more striking, as the long slender capsule 
of this species can never be confounded with the large round capsule of the common Corn Poppy. 
3.— THE LONG PRICKLY-HEADED POPPY. (Papaver Argemone, Lin.) 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 643 ; 2d ed., t. 752 ; and our fig. 3, slightly hairy. Stem leafy, many-flowered. Leaves doubly pinna- 
in PI. 6. tifid. (Smith.) 
Specific Character. —Capsule club-shaped, ribbed, bristly. Calyx 
Description, &c. —An annual species, a native of corn-fields and waste ground, on gravelly or sandy soils. 
The plant is extremely unlike a Poppy in the shape of its flowers, as the petals are long, narrow, and widely 
apart. The flowers are of a dull scarlet, and the capsule is long and narrow, being covered with prickles at 
the upper end. The leaves are of the kind called bipinnatifid. 
