. Cassell's popular gardening. Gardening. COMMON GARDEN FLOWERS. 103 though they are, yet they are extremely gay while the blossoms endure. This is Papaver RJmas, the Field Popi^y, and its English names are the (Jom- mon Red Poppy, Corn Rose, and Cup Rose. It is a common British plant, is of annual duration, and blooms abundantly in June and July. Then there is the Garden, or Opium, or W^hite Poppy, F. somni- fertini, and this is not only regarded as the ty^e, but the most important plant of the family. It is found in a wild state throughout the whole of Europe, in Egypt, and in Asia; and, tho
. Cassell's popular gardening. Gardening. COMMON GARDEN FLOWERS. 103 though they are, yet they are extremely gay while the blossoms endure. This is Papaver RJmas, the Field Popi^y, and its English names are the (Jom- mon Red Poppy, Corn Rose, and Cup Rose. It is a common British plant, is of annual duration, and blooms abundantly in June and July. Then there is the Garden, or Opium, or W^hite Poppy, F. somni- fertini, and this is not only regarded as the ty^e, but the most important plant of the family. It is found in a wild state throughout the whole of Europe, in Egypt, and in Asia; and, though frequcntlj" met with apparently wild in Britain, it is generally believed to have been introduced at some early period, probably from some part of Asia. It is a plant of great value in medicine : Poppy- heads are the dried seed-vessels or cap- sules of this plant. It is in the capsules that the juice most abounds, and this juice, which exudes after incision, be- comes dry and hard, and is then known by the name of Opium. The Poppy is extensively culti- vated in the Asiatic provinces of Turkey, Egypt, Persia, and India. " The plants during their growth are carefully w^atered and manured, the watering being more liberal as the period of flowering ap- proaches, and until the capsules are half-grown, when it is discontinued, and the gathering of the opium commences. The in which opium is obtained is still the same as that practised in the East centuries before the time of our Saviour. A. Papaver orientale. few days after the fall of the flower, men and women proceed to the fields at sunset, and make horizontal incisions in the Poppy-heads or capsules, taking care not to cut so doci) as to penetrate their cavity. A white juice exudes, and appears in the form of tears on the ( â dgcs of the incisions, and the night dews favour the exudation of the juice. The field is left in this state for twenty-four hours, after which the juice is scraped oflt with a small ir
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade18, booksubjectgardening, bookyear1884
