312 
D. Prain — Some additional Papaveracese. 
[No. 3, 
most obligingly pointed out to the writer, trne Meconopses, the ripe capsules recently 
received having valves that are only partially dehiscent. Still another possible 
species is the plant described by M. Franchet as M. betonicxfolia. It may well 
be a Meconopsis but the fruit is not ripe and from its evident close affinity to two 
Himalayan species that seem undoubtedly referable to Cathcartia this may also 
prove to be better placed in that genus. From Hupeh the already mentioned M. 
Oliveriana* is the only species as yet recorded; like M. chelidonifolia it also occurs 
in Szechuen. 
From what has been said it will be clear that the home of Meconopsis is the 
conjoint Himalo-Tibetan and Tibeto-Chinese regions. But while this is the case 
there are three species that do not occur within this area and that exhibit a distri¬ 
bution which, even for outliers, is remarkable and peculiar. One species M. cam- 
brica , that on which Yiguier originally founded the genus, is confined to Western 
Europe, where it extends from Portugal to Wales, Cumberland and Strath-Clyde, thus 
overlying the western fringe of the Papaver area as M. aculeata overlies its east¬ 
ern fringe. And strangely enough its nearest allies in the genus would seem to be 
M. chelidonifolia and M. Oliveriana —precisely the species from which it is fur¬ 
thest separated geographically. The two remaining species M. crassifolia and 
M. heterophylla occur in Western America. These are altogether anomalous in 
having valves which dehisce like those of Papaver by short subquadrate pores and 
in having their stigmatic lobes discrete as in Chelidoniun or in Argemone. More dis¬ 
concerting still is the fact that in the same area there occur two true Papavers, P. cali- 
fornicum, and P. Lemmoni , the former with a perfectly normal disc, the latter with an 
umbonate one like Papaver stylatum, while all four species are so very nearly related 
that it is only by an examination of their ripe capsules that they are to be definitely 
separated. It is not therefore surprising that so careful an observer and so great 
an authority on Californian species as Prof. E. Greene proposes to treat all four as 
congeneric. Whether, as he proposes, all should be treated as Papaiers is a matter 
* Meconopsis Oliveriana Franchet Sf Prain MSS. in Herb. Paris, and in Herb. 
Kew. Stems tall copiously branched, setulose below, glabrous above ; leaves numer¬ 
ous, lower and middle shortly petioled sparingly strigose on both surfaces as are the 
upper sessile somewhat amplexicaul, ovate-oblong pinnatipartite; segments 1-2- 
jngate petiolulate ovate pinnatifid, lobes rounded obtuse, terminal segment deeply 
3- fid : peduncles numerous slender and sepals glabrous ; flowers solitary at the end 
of stem and of the many axillary always leafy branches ; capsule long cylindric 
4- 5-valved, glabrous ; placentas nervifortn. 
China : Szechuen, Tchen-keou-tin, Farges n. 390! Hupeh ; Henry n. 6863 ! 
Stems erect 2-3 ft. high, as thick as a swan’s quill at base, flowers 8—12 ter¬ 
minal ; buds globose; style very short and thick; capsule including style 1| in. 
long, ^in. across ; rootstock villous. 
This species so closely resembles in all its vegetative characters M. chelidoni¬ 
folia Franchet, that at first it is hard to believe that they can be distinct. The fruit 
is however totally different; in M. chelidonifolia the capsule is short, ovate, fin. long, 
and J in. across, the style is distinct and slender and the placentas are deeply intruded 
as they are in the true Poppies. Another difference is in the colour of the petals 
which seem, judging from dried specimens in Herb. Paris, to be purplish ; certainly 
they are not bright yellow as in M. chelidonifolia. Both species much resemble 
Cathcartia villosa. 
