MECONO'PSIS*. Linnean Class and Order. POLYA'NDRIA† MONOGY'NIA. Natural Order. PAPAVERA'CEÆ. Juss.--Lindl. Syn. p. 16; Introd. to Nat. Syst. p. 8.-Rich. by Macgilliv. p. 497. GEN. CHAR. Calyx inferior, of 2 egg-shaped, concave, equal, somewhat bristly, deciduous sepals. Corolla of 4 large, roundish, crumpled, spreading petals, the 2 inner ones the smallest. Filaments very numerous, hair-like, much shorter than the corolla. Anthers terminal, upright, somewhat stalked, oblong, blunt, compressed. Germen oblong. Style evident, short. Stigma of from 4 to 6 radiating, downy, permanent lobes. Capsule superior, inversely eggoblong, coriaceous, of one cell, opening by, from 4 to 6, valves at the top. Placenta (Receptacles of the seeds) narrow, scarcely projecting into the inside of the capsule. Seeds very numerous, kidneyshaped, minute, dotted. This Genus is distinguished from that of Papaver by the evident style, and narrow, scarcely projecting placenta. It is, as DE CANDOLLE observes, a genus between Papáver and Argemone. One species British. MECONO'PSIS CA'MBRICA. Common Welsh-Poppy. SPEC. CHAR. Capsules smooth, with from 4 to 6 valves. Leaves stalked, pinnate, cut. De Candolle's Regni Vegetabilis Systema Naturale, v. ii. p. 87. fide Sir J. E. Smith.-Lindl. Syn. p. 17.-Hook. Brit. Fl. p. 256.-Don's Gen. Syst. of Gard. and Bot. v. i. p. 135.-Papáver Cámbricum, Linn.-Engl. Bot. t. 66. -Huds. Fl. Angl. (2nd ed.) p. 231.-Sm. Fl. Brit. v. ii. p. 568. Engl. Fl. v. iii. p. 12.-With. (7th ed.) v. iii. p. 650.-Hook. Fl. Scot. p. 168.-Grev. Fl. Edin. p. 120.-Mack. Catal. Pl. of Ireland, p. 51.-Fl. Devon. pp. 90 & 192.Papáver cambricum perenne, Aore sulphurco, Dillenius' Hortus Elthamensis, v. ii. p. 300. t. 223. f. 290.-Papáver luteum perenne, laciniato folio, Cambrobritannicum, Ray's Syn. p. 309.-Cerastites cambrica, Gray's Nat. Arr. p. 704. v. ii. LOCALITIES.-In moist rocky shady situations. Very rare in ENGLAND.Cumberland; Near Portingseale: Mr. WINCH, in With. Bot. Arr. Near Keswick: Mr. HUTTON, in Bot. Guide.-Devonshire; Woods around Lidford Fall, abundant. Woods at Endsleigh and Dunterton: Messrs. JONES and KINGSTON, in Fl Devoniensis. Near Linton: Mr. JACOB, ibid.-Lancashire; Near Holker: Mr. WOODWARD, in Bot. Guide. Brathay: Rev. J. DODD, ibid. Somersetshire; On the rocks at Chedder: Dr. DILLENIUS, in Hortus Elthamensis.- Westmoreland; About Kendal, plentifully: Mr. HUDSON, in Fl. Angl.-By the Ferry-house at Winandermere: Mr. WOODWARD, in Bot. Guide. Grasmere : Rev. W. WOOD, ibid. In shady lanes near Kirkby Lonsdale: Sir J. E. Smith, in Fl. Brit.-Yorkshire; Mossdale Head in Wensley Dale Mr. BRUNTON.-WALES. Carnarvonshire; Near the bridge at Aber, in the bed of the river: Mr. LнWYD, in Ray's Syn. On the back of Snowdon, going from Carnarvon to Llanberris, not far from the Castle: Mr. RAY, in Syn.--Denbighshire; near Pont Meredith: Mr. GRIFFITH.--Glamorganshire; About Pont Nedd Vachn, Aberdylais, &c. plentiful: Mr. DILLWYN, in Bot. Guide.-Montgomeryshire; On the Breiddin Hills: Mr. AIKIN, in Bot. Fig. 1. Stamens.-Fig. 2. Germen and Pistil.-Fig. 3. Capsule.-Fig. 4. Transverse Section of the same. - Fig. 5. A Seed, magnified. *From mecon, Gr. a Poppy, and opsis, Gr. a resemblance. Dr. HOOKER. + See Papáver Somniferum, p. 53. Banks of the Water of Leith, near Woodhall; Messrs. SOMMERVILLE and MAUGHAN, in Hook. Fl. Scotica. Braid Woods and Cliesh Woods: Mr. ARNOTT, ibid.-IRELAND. Rostrevor-hill, in crevices of rocks by the side of a stream, where it had been previously observed by Mr. JOHN WHITE: Mr. MACKAY, in Catal. of Pl. of Ireland. Benbulben, Sligo: E. MURPHY, Esq. in Loudon's Mag. of Nat. Hist. v. i. p. 438. Perennial.-Flowers in June, July, and August. Root tapering, branched, fibrous, yellowish brown on the outside, nearly white within. Stem upright, branched, a foot or more high, leafy, nearly smooth, or clothed, more or less, with scattered projecting hairs. Root-leaves with very long petioles (leaf-stalks). Stem-leaves with shorter, all pinnate (winged), with nearly eggshaped, pointed, lobed, and cut, somewhat decurrent, nearly smooth leaflets, the terminating one 3-lobed. Peduncle (flower-stalk) very long, slightly hairy, bearing one large, fragrant, lemon-coloured flower. Calyx hairy. Capsule oblong, tapering towards the base. Seeds very numerous, minute, kidney-shaped, and beautifully reticulated or dotted.-The whole plant is tender and brittle, of a light, somewhat glaucous green colour, with a white milky juice. The large, handsome, and delicate, lemon-coloured flowers render it not unworthy a place in the Flower Garden, where it will thrive in a moist shady situation, but it will not do in an open exposed place. It has naturalized itself at the bottom of the Oxford Botanic Garden, under a wall facing nearly North East. The Natural Order PAPAVERA'CEE, to which the present plant belongs, is composed of dicotyledonous, herbaceous plants, or shrubs, with a white or yellowish milky juice, alternate, more or less divided leaves, and long 1-flowered peduncles. The calyx consists of 2 deciduous sepals. The corolla is composed of 4, or a multiple of 4, petals, which are hypogynous (inferior), inserted in a cruciate manner, and which are plaited and puckered previous to their expansion. The stamens (fig. 1.) are hypogynous (i. e. inserted into the receptacle below the pistil), and are either 8, or a multiple of 4, but more generally they are more numerous, and, in some instances, inserted in 4 parcels, one of which adheres to the base of each petal. The anthers are bi-locular (2-celled), and innate. The ovary (germen) (fig. 2.) is solitary. The style short, or wanting, and terminated by as many stigmas (or lobes of the stigma) as there are placenta. The fruit is 1-celled, either pod-shaped, with 2 parietal placentæ, (Plate 51, f. 5, 6, & 7,) or capsular, with several placentæ, (Plate 53, f. 3. and Plate 54, f. 3). The seeds (f. 5.) are numerous, each with a minute embryo in the base of a fleshy albumen.- -See Lindley's Synopsis, and Richard's Elements. British Genera in this Order are, 1. PAPA'VER, Plate 53.— 2. MECONO'PSIS, Plate 54.-3. GLAUCIUM.-4. ROMERIA.—and 5. CHELIDONIUM, Plate 51. |