PAP A 
This magnificent plant is exhibited on the annexed 
Plate, at fig. 2. 
io. Papaver virgatum, or wand-like oriental poppy: 
capfules fmooth ; item ftraight, panicled, many-flowered, 
rough with fpreading briftles ; leaves pinnate, cut, briltly. 
Native of Armenia. The ftem is ftraight and fluff", pa¬ 
nicled, bearing a great number of flowers, and clothed 
with fpreading rigid briftles. Radical leaves numerous, 
pinnate, cut, hifpid, efpecially their ribs, all the points 
callous, and tipped with a brittle, as in thofe of the pre¬ 
ceding, which they in all refpeCts much refemble. Flower- 
fta'.ks fcattered, each bearing one, two, or three, flowers ; 
petals red; germen roundifh, fmooth. This fpecies dif¬ 
fers from the preceding, in having a ftraight panicled 
many-flowered ftem, the briftles covering which are hori¬ 
zontal, not clofe-prefl’ed. 
n. Papaver fugax, or fmall fugacious poppy: capfules 
fmooth, orbicular; ftem panicled, many-flowered, fmooth ; 
petals minute ; leaves pinnatifid, ferrated, hifpid. Brought 
by Michaux from Perfia. It flowered in May 1789, in 
the royal garden at Paris. Poiret defcribed it from La¬ 
marck’s Herbarium. He -fays it is diftinguifhed by the 
ftem, forming at the fummit an ample panicle of many 
very fmall flowers, which laft but a few hours. Each 
ftem is (lender, ftraight, ftriated, fmooth, about eighteen 
inches high, Ample, except at the top. Leaves fcattered, 
(talked, not unlike thofe of P. orientale, but lefs deeply 
pinnatifid, not pinnate, furniftied with a few long fcat¬ 
tered hairs, the fegments or teeth, more or lefs diftant, 
each terminated by a long briftle. Petals pale-red, very 
fmall in comparifon with the reft of the genus, and ex¬ 
tremely fugacious. 
12. Papava Cambricum, or yellow Welfh poppy: cap¬ 
fules fmooth, oblong, beaked; ftem nearly fmooth, bearing 
feveral flowers; leaves pinnate, cut. This fpecies, one 
of the moft elegant of our native plants, feems peculiar 
to rocky (hady fituations in Wales and Weftmoreland; 
for the reference to Bauhin’s Prodromus, on which Lin- 
nteus grounds his aflertion of its being found on the 
Pyrenees, appears to belong either to the alpinum or 
nudicaule. It is perennial, (lowering in June; and may 
be cultivated in the moift (hady parts of a garden, where, 
though each root does not, in general, laft many years, 
the (beds, fcattering themfelves in the undifturbed foil, 
will from time to time produce new plants. The ftem is 
twelve or eighteen inches high, leafy, fomewhat branched, 
clothed with a few rather upright hairs. Leaves tender 
and delicate, of a pale but plealant green, pinnate, their 
common-ftalk winged ; their leaflets ovate, acute, cut or 
lobed, almoft entirely fmooth, glaucous underneath, each 
above an inch long. Flowers terminating the few branches, 
folitary, on long (talks, about the fize of P. dubium, but 
of a beautiful lemon-colour, with a fcent like thofe of 
Crafl'ula coccinea, or Mefembryanthemum noCtiflorum. 
The herb when wounded difcharges a yellowilh fluid, not 
unlike the juice of the common celandine, to which 
indeed this plant is fo nearly allied in botanical affinity, 
that fuch a coincidence is not furprifing. 
It was firft defcribed and figured by Parkinfon in 1640. 
He fays that it grows in many places of Wales, in the 
valleys and fields, at the foot of the hills, and by the 
water-fides; about a mile from Abbar, and in the midway 
from Denbigh to Guider, the houfe of fir John Guin 
(Wynne), as alfo near a wooden bridge over the Dee to 
Balam in North Wales, and in going up the hill that 
leads to Bangor; as alfo near Anglefea. On the back of 
Snowdon, going from Caernarvon to Llanberris; as you 
afcend the Glyder from Llanberris, &c. commonly by 
rivulets or on moift rocks ; alfo beyond Pont Vawr. 
Found by Dillenius on Chedder rocks in Somerfetffiire; 
and fince about Kendal, Kirby-Lonfdale, and Winander 
Mere, in Weftmoreland, and "Hooker in Lancalhire, by 
Mr. Woodward and others. 
Propagation and Culture. All the forts of poppy are pro¬ 
pagated by feeds; but thofe which have perennial roots 
4 - 
V E R. 355 
may be alfo propagated by offsets. The beft time for 
fowing the feeds is in September, when they will more 
certainly grow, and thofe forts which are annual will 
make larger plants, and flower better, than when they are 
fown in the fpring. The beft way is to fow the feeds of 
the annual kinds in the places where they are to remain, 
and to thin the plants where they are too clofe ; thofe of 
the large kinds (hould not be left nearer to each other 
than a foot and a half, and the fmaller forts may be allowed 
about half that fpace. The culture they will require after 
this, is only to keep them clean from weeds. Thofe who 
are curious to have fine poppies in their gardens, carefully 
look over their plants when they begin to flower, and cut 
up all thofe plants whofe flowers are not very double and 
well marked, before they open their flowers, to prevent 
their farina mixing with their finer flowers, which would 
degenerate them ; and it is the not being careful of this, 
that caufes the flowers to degenerate fo frequently in 
many places, which is often fuppofed to be occafioned by 
the ground. 
5. The quantity of fcarlet poppy, canker, or redweed, 
in fome lands, is a difgrace to the farmer; and the bril¬ 
liancy of the flowers proclaims his difgrace to the whole 
country. Being an annual weed, it is eafily deftroyed by 
good hulbandry; but, like other oily feeds, it will lie 
long in the ground without corrupting. It is (aid to 
have vegetated after having been twenty-four years 
buried. Swine are frequently turned upon it in Norfolk; 
and they will eat out this troublefome -weed, with little 
or no damage to the wheat. Others feed firft with ffieep, 
then with cattle till April, taking them off' when it rains 
much, if the land is not very light. Upon dry foils, 
which are moft fubjeft to poppy, Mr. Ellman, ofShoreham, 
ploughs his tare and rape land for wheat the beginning 
or middle of September, in order to fow the middle of 
OCtober ; the harrowing kills the poppy ; and, in putting 
in the feed, he likes to tread much with oxen or (beep. 
A neighbour treads his with oxen in March, which he 
thinks better againll the poppy than doing it at fowing. 
This treading may deftroy the prefent crop of poppy; 
but the hoard of feed remains in the ground to come up 
on every ploughing. The only way to deftroy fuch weeds 
effectually, is to make them germinate, by bringing them 
near the furface, and then to cut and tear them with the 
plough, the (kirn, thefcuffler, or the harrow, according to 
circumftances. 
7. The culture of the common white poppy, as praCtifed 
in the province of Bahar, is as follows. The field being 
well prepared by the plough and harrow', and reduced to 
an exaCt level furface, it is then divided into quadrangular 
areas, feven feet in length, and five in breadth, leaving 
two feet of interval, which is raifed five or fix inches, and 
hollowed out for conveying water to every area, for 
which purpole they have a well in every cultivated field. 
The feeds are fown in October or November. The plants 
are allowed to grow fix or eight inches diftant from each 
othey, and are plentifully fupplied with water. When the 
young plants are fix or eight inches high, they are watered 
more fparingly ; but a compoltof allies, human excrement, 
cow-dung, aiid a portion of nitrous earth (craped from 
the highways and old mud-walls, is ftrewed all over the 
beds. When the plants are near flowering, they are wa¬ 
tered profufely to increafe the juice. The capfules being 
half grown, and fit to colleCt opium from, the plants are 
no longer watered. 
It appears that the poppy may be cultivated for the 
purpofe of obtaining opium to advantage in Great Britain. 
Profeffor Alfton, of Edinburgh, faid, long fince, that the 
milky juice, drawn by incifion from poppy-heads, and 
thickened either in the fun or (hade, even in this country, 
has alfo the characters of good opium ; its colour, con¬ 
fidence, tafte, lfnell, &c. are all the lame; only, if care¬ 
fully collected, it is more pure and free from feculencies. 
Similar remarks have been made by others; “to which,” 
fays Dr. Woodville, “ we may add our own ; for, during 
that 
