1895.] 
D. Prain —Some additional Papaveraceae. 
323 
When M. Boissier in 1845 first defined R. rhceadijlora he considered it a species 
apart from R. refracta ; the only character, however, by which he could diagnose his 
species was that its pedicels did not turn down. There is however no character to 
separate the two and M. Boissier admits this when in the Flora Orientalis he 
includes under R. rhceadijlora the solitary gathering (Derbent, Steven !) on which 
the species R. refracta was founded ! By an oversight, however, he omits to cite the 
name that DeCandolle had already given to the specimens of this gathering, or 
to merge his own later name in it. The writer, who has examined both Steven’s, 
and therefore DeCandolle’s, as well as Boissier’s original specimens is satisfied that 
Boissier is right in considering the two conspecific. And a note by Stocks, on the 
specimen in Herb. Calcutta of the gathering from Beluchistan identified by 
Boissier with R. rhceadijlora, shows that that botanist had already recognised the 
identity of Boissier’s species with R. refracta DC. 
5. (_.) GLAUCIUM Tournef. 
Biennial or perennial glaucous herbs with yellow juice. Radical 
leaves rosulate petioled, cauline more or less amplexicaul incised or 
lobed. Peduncles axillary or terminal 1-fld. Sepals 2 ; petals 4, orange- 
yellow convolute, stamens numerous ; ovary linear; stigma 2-lamellate 
sessile, lamellae erect, alternate with the placentas and projecting at 
oach end so as to form conjointly two horizontal arms stigmatic above, 
opposite the placentas. Capsule a slender cylindric pseudo-siliqua, 
valves dehiscing throughout their length and leaving a pseudo-replum 
resulting from union of margins of intruded placentae, in which the 
seeds are semi-immersed. Seeds scorbiculate without crests. Species 
about 15; throughout the Mediterranean, Oriental and Central Asian 
regions. 
Key to the Indian Species. 
* Pods slender, not much thicker than pednncles, slightly 
torulose, contorted or irregularly curved, rarely straight 1. G. elegans. 
# # Pods stout, nearly twice as thick as peduncles, not toru¬ 
lose, straight or only slightly regularly bent ... 2. G. squamigerum. 
Like Roemeria and Papaver , Glaucium is not a truly Indian genus. The difficulty 
of distinguishing satisfactorily the different forms has led in various taxonomic 
works to a great diversity of treatment. In the Flora Orientalis M. Boissier has 
distinguished thirteen Oriental species; in Acta Hort. Petr op. (1887) Dr. Kuntze 
has proposed the extreme measure of reducing all the forms to one very variable 
species Glaucium corniculatum. Doubtless the truth lies somewhere between these 
two extremes. M. Boissier was an author of the greatest care and of the highest 
judgment and the various forms that he describes are at all events recognisable. 
And though it is possible to some extent to justify the view of Dr. Kuntze when the 
genus is looked at from the monographer’s stand point, it is not necessary or advis¬ 
able to adopt it when dealing with the flora of a given area. Besides, an examination 
of Kuntze’s work does not leave the impression that he appreciates the value, even 
for varietal differentiation, of the characters exhibited by the varieties and sub- 
J. ii. 41 
