868 
ON PLANTS IN RELATION TO ANIMALS. 
and in the Pharmaceutical Journal for 1852. From these 
sources, as well as from the Keiv Garden Miscellany (vol. vi), 
the following remarks have been condensed : 
“ The preparation of the drug seems to be conducted in much 
the same way in the various districts whence opium is obtained, 
but in some much greater care is taken than in others. In India 
a very large extent of country is devoted to the cultivation of 
the opium poppy, and at Behar and Benares are Government 
agencies established for the purpose of regulating the manufac¬ 
ture, ensuring the purity of the drug, &c. When the flowers 
are in bloom the first step is the removal of the petals, which are 
used in packing the prepared drug. After a few days the 
imperfectly ripened capsules are scarified from above downwards 
by two or three knives tied together, and called f nushters/ 
“ These make a superficial incision, or series of incisions, into 
the capsule, whereupon a milky juice exudes, which is allowed 
to harden, and is then removed and collected in earthen pots. 
The time of day chosen for slicing the capsules is about 3 o’clock 
in the afternoon, when the heat of the sun causes the speedy 
formation of a film over the exuded juice; great attention is also 
paid to the weather, prevailing winds, dew, &c., as all these 
causes modify the quantity, quality, or speediness of exudation 
of the opium.”* 
The poppies may be conveniently divided, for our present pur¬ 
pose, into two groups, namely, exotic and native or wild species. 
The first of these will now occupy our more immediate 
attention. 
Mr. Syme, in the new edition of Sowerby’s ‘ English Botany/ 
describes two forms of exotic poppies as being sometimes met 
with in England, namely : 
PAPAVER SOMNIPERUM. 
Locality. 
“ A weed in corn-fields and a straggler on waste 
places and new-turned soil. Local. Abundant in 
corn-fields at Greenhithe, Darent, Cobham, and 
several other places in Kent, where it seems as 
well established as the common red poppies.” 
/3. “Papaver officinale, f “ Occasionally found in waste places, but has no 
opium poppy.” ■{ claim to be considered as even naturalised. There 
is a specimen in the British Museum from Batter- 
| [_sea Meadows.”f 
The first of these would appear to have been attached to 
gardens, from its more coloured and ornamental flowers, whilst 
the second is doubtless the true P. somniferum , the opium or 
medicinal poppy. 
* ‘Treasury of Botany, 5 p. 841-2. 
f Yol. i, pp. 83-4. 
a. “ Papaver hortense , 
a field and gar- < 
den plant.” 
