inarked; as was proved by the lamented Mr. Croom, whose monograph
affords a very complete account of this genus.
Or d e r XII. PAPAVERACEiE. Juss.
Sepals 2, or sometimes 3, imbricated in aestivation, caducous. Petals
4, placed in a cruciate manner, or sometimes 5—6, hypogynous.
Stamens hypogynous, distinct, as many or twice as many as the petals,
or often numerous but some multiple o f the petals, sometimes in
as many parcels one of which adheres to the base of each : anthers
innate. Ovary composed of 2 or more united carpels (distinct in
Platystemon): style short or none : stigmas when several usually stellate
upon the flat apex of the ovary. Fruit 1-celled, either pod-shaped
with 2-3, or capsular with several parietal placentae, which are alternate
with (in Papaver opposite) the stigmas ; the valves often separating
from the placentae. Seeds numerous, anatropous, sometimes slightly
curved. Embryo minute, at the base of fleshy and oily albumen.—
Herbs (very rarely shrubs), With commonly a milky or colored nar-
cotic, and often acrid, juice. Leaves alternate, exstipulate, often
more or less divided. Flowers solitary on long peduncles, white, yellow,
or red, never blue.
1. True Papaveracece.
1. PAPAVER. Linn.; Gcertn.fr. t. 60.
Sepals 2. Petals 4. Stamens numerous. Style none: stigmas 4-20;
sessile, radiating on the summit of the ovary. Capsule obovate, thick, opening
under the crown formed" by the stigmas : placentae many-seeded, opposite
to the stigmas ! and extending into the cavity so as to form incomplete
partitions.—Herbs with a white narcotic juice. Peduncles drooping at the
extremity before flowering.—Poppy.
1. P. nudicaule (Linn.) : hairy; leaves pinnatifid, with acute incised
lobes; peduncles radical, very long; sepals clothed with bristly hairs; capsules
hispid, obovate-oblong.—Bot. mag. t. 1663 ; P ur eh. fl. 2. p. 365; DC.
prodr. 1. p. 117; Hook.! fl. Bor.-Am. 1. p. 34.
Labrador! and Arctic America! Unalaschka, Chamisso.—If Flowers
mostly yellow.
2. P. dubium (Linn.): caulescent: stem hispid with spreading hairs;
leaves pinnately parted; segments incised; peduncles clothed with appres-
sed bristly hairs; sepals hairy; capsules obovoid-oblong, smooth.—Eng. bot.
t. 644; DC. 1. c ; Darlingt.fl. Cest. ed. 2. p. 317.
In cultivated grounds; becoming naturalized in Chester County, Pennsylvania,
Darlington.—(J) Flowers pale red or scarlet.
3. P. sommiferum (Linn.): caulescent, glabrous and glaucous; leaves
clasping, incised and toothed, the teeth somewhat obtuse; sepals glabrous;
capsules obovate or globose, glabrous.—D-C. prodr. 1. p. 119.
Growing wild occasionally in waste grounds, but scarcely naturalized.
(j) Common Poppy.
2. ARGEMONE. Linn.-, Gcertn.fr. t. 60; Lam. ill. t. 452.
Sepals 2. Petals 4-8. Stamens numerous. Stigmas 4-7, almost sessile,
radiating, concave, free, alternate with the placentae. Capsule obovate,
opening at the apex by valves, which separate, from the persistent filiform
placentae. Seeds globose, pitted and reticulated.—Annual glaucous herbs,
with a yellow juice. Leaves sessile, repand-sinuate or pinnatifid, with
prickly teeth. Peduncles erect before and after flowering.
1. A. Mexicana (Linn.): leaves usually blotched with white; flowers
solitary; calyx glabrous, prickly; petals,yellow; capsules prickly. Bot.
mag. t. 243; Pursh,fl. 2. p. 366; EU. sk. 2.p. 13; DC.prodr. 1.p. 120.
/?. flowers ochroleucous.
y. flowers larger, white.-—A. Mexicana /?. albifiora, DC. 1. c ; Bot. mag. t.
2342. A. alba, R a f. fl. Ludov. A. Georgiana, Croom! in Silt.jour. 25.
p. 75.
3. capsules not prickly. H I , 4
In waste and cultivated places throughout the Southern and W estem
States. West to the Platte and Canadian Rivers! Native 1 S. Key West!
Sparingly naturalized in the Northern States. June-Oct.—Prickly Poppy.
3. MECONOPSIS. Viguier, diss. p. 20; DC. syst. 2. p. 86.
Sepals 2. Petals 4. Stamens numerous. Style short but distinct: stigmas
4-6, radiating, convex, free. Capsule obovate, opening by valves at
the apex: placentse (opposite to the stigmas?) slender, scarcely extending
•into the cell.—Perennial herbs with a yellow juice. The first section is
very near Papaver; the second is somewhat allied to Argemone.
§ 1. Capsules 5 -6 -[sometimes 4-] valved, smooth.—M econopsis, DC.
1. M. heterophylla (Benth.): leaves few and remote, pinnately divided ;
segments of the lower ones ovate, incised and petioluled ; of the upper linear,
entire, somewhat confluent. Benth. in hort. trans. (ser. 2.) 1. p. 40.
California, Douglas, Nuttall!—A foot high. Flowers small, scarlet.
Petals unequal. Nutt.
2. M. crassifolia (Benth.): stem leafy at the base; leaves rather thick,
glaucous, pinnately divided ; the segments incisely lobed, with revolute margins
; those of the lower leaves ovate-cuneiform, of the upper linear-cuneiform.
Benth.! 1. c.
California, Douglas !—Flowers orange-red.
§ 2. Capsules i-valved, echinate-setose.—S tylophorum, Nutt.
3. M. diphylla (DC.) : leaves pinnately divided or parted; segments 5-7,
obovate-oblong, sinuate, glaucous beneath; cauline leaves mostly 2, opposite;
peduncles aggregated, terminal.—DC. syst. 2. p. 88, A prodr. 1. p. 121.
M. petiolata, DC. 1. c. Chelidonium diphyllum, Michx. / fl. 1. p. 309.
Stylophorum diphyllum, Nutt. 1 gen. 2. p. 7. S. petiolatum, N u tt.! 1. c.
S. Ohioense, Spreng. syst. 2. p. 570.