Spec. Plant. Willd. ii. 1144.

Cl. 13. Ord. 1. Polyandria Monogynia. Nat. ord. Papaveraceae. G. 1015. Corolla four-petalled. Calyx two-leaved. Capsule onecelled, opening by pores under the persistent stigma. * * With smooth capsules. Sp. 5. P. Rhoeeas. Corn or Red Poppy. Med. Pot. 3d. edit. 387.

t. 139. Smith, Flora Brit. 567. Eng. Pot. 645. Sp. 7. P. somniferum. White Poppy. Med. Pot. 3d edit. 376.

t.138. Smithy Flora Prit. 568.

1. Papaver Rhceas.i

Officinal. Rhceas, Lond. Papaver Rhceas; petala, Dub.

Petals of the Red Poppy.

Syn. Coquelicot (F.), Klappenrose (G.), Klapperroos {Dutch), Klapperrosc " {Dan.), Kornros (Swed.), Papavero rosolaccio (I.), Adormidera sylvestre, Ama-pola (S.), Papoileira (Port.).

This species of the poppy is an indigenous annual, growing in the greatest abundance in corn-fields and waste places, and flowering in June and July. Its geographic situation extends from 60° N. lat. towards the tropics; but it is not found in America. The stem rises about a foot in height, is branched, and every where furnished with stiffish, horizontally spreading hairs. The leaves are sessile, pinnatifid, sometimes doubly so, serrated or cut, and generally hairy. The flowers are solitary, on slender, hairy peduncles; the calyx consists of two ovate, rough, concave leaves, which fall before the petals expand: the petals are four, large, roundish, unequal, and spreading, of a full, bright scarlet-colour, and sometimes marked with a black spot at the base. The germen is ovate, smooth, with a convex, sessile, shield-like stigma, scalloped on the edge, having many purple-coloured rays; and becomes an urn-shaped capsule.2

The petals must be gathered when they begin to blow, as they very soon drop after they are fully expanded.

Qualities.-They have a faint, narcotic odour, and a mucilaginous, very slightly bitter taste. They yield their colouring matter to warm water; and on this account only are used, as they cannot be said to possess any narcotic properties. The capsules, however, of every species of poppy contain opium; and from the red, it has actually been procured for medicinal purposes, both by Boulducs and Dr. Alston 4; but the quantity is too small to make it an object of importance.

Officinal preparation.-Syrupus Rhoeados, L. D.

1 'Potos Theophrasti et Dioscoridis.

2 This form of capsule easily distinguishes it from Papaver dubium, which has a long, slender capsule, but in other respects closely resembles the corn poppy.

3 Mem. de l'Acad. de Paris, 1712. 4 Alston's Mat. Med.

2. Papaver somniferum.1

Officinal Opium, Papaver, Lond. Papaveris somniferi capsulae. Opium, Edin. Capsularum succus proprius concretus; Opium; capsulae maturae, Dub. Poppy capsules or heads, and Opium.

Syn. Capsules des Pavots Wanes; Opium (F.), die Kopsc des Weissen Mohns, Mohnsaft (G.), Wittamnu Hewl, Turks Heulzap (Dutch), Valmuesaft (Danish), Wallmo Opion (Swedish & Russian), Capi del Papavero; Oppio (I.), Ador-mideras; Opio (S.), Afeeoan (Arab.), Affion ( Turkish), Afiun (H.), Jya-Pien ( Chinese), Abinie ( Tarn.), Ufyoon(Malay), Sheerkhushah (Pers.), Abim ( Cyng.), Apiuru (Jav.), Caruppa (Malab.).

The somniferous or white poppy is a native of Asia; and although it is found growing wild in the southern parts of Europe, yet there is every reason for thinking that its seed must have been carried to these parts. It was very early cultivated in Greece, perhaps, at first, solely for the sake of its seed, which was used as food. It is extensively cultivated in most of the states of Europe2, in the present age, not only on account of the opium, for which it is reared in Turkey, Persia, and India, but also on account of the capsules, and especially for the bland oil obtained from the seeds. It is an annual plant, flowering in June and July, in Europe; and in February, in India. The stem is glaucous, coloured, smooth, erect, and round; rising to the height of three or four feet, Theophrasti et Dioscoridis. Homer notices the somniferous poppy, under the name of is a garden plant: and it is said to he nourishing, by Hipprocates; an expression which is explained by the fact that, at this day, in Persia, when the plants rise too thick in the fields in which they are sown, those which are taken up, when they are young, are used as pot-herbs. The following are the names by which the poppy is known in the greater part of Europe:-Pavot de jardin (F.), Papavero domestico (I.), Mohn, Garten Mohn, Magen (G.), Dor midera, Cascak (S.), Mdk (Boh. & Hung.), Maczek (Polish), Maan (Flemish), Valmue (Danish). In Asia its appellations are Khashhash (Arab.), Kooknan (Pers.), Casa Casa (Tarn.), Post (Sans.), Abin Atta (Cyng.), Ying-suh (Ghinese), Kes, Reisjun (Japan).

2 In England, it has been cultivated for the purpose of obtaining opium. Mr. Ball, in 1796, received a premium from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, for a specimen of British opium little inferior to the Oriental----Transactions of the Society of Arts, xiv. 260-270. Messrs. Cowley and Stains, in 1823, collected 196 lbs. of opium, which sold for 30s. 6d. per lb., from little more than 12 acres of land. But it has been most successfully cultivated by Mr. Young, who found that the best and most lucrative mode of cultivating the poppy in this country is in wide drills, about 12 inches between the rows. The plants sown about the middle of April are ready for bleeding about the middle of July. The subsoil should be sand, or at least pervious. The instrument used by Mr. Young for bleeding the capsules is a double-bladed, convex-edged knife, covered with sealing wax, except so much of the edge as is necessary to make the incisions. These are made vertical, then obliquely; and the proper time for this operation is a week after the petals fall. When these scarifications are finished, he slices off the capitulum or stigma, and collects the milky juice that exudes. The juice is collected on a hair brush, known to painters by the name of a sash-tool, rounded a little at the point.