POPPY, Paptiver. a genus of plants of the papaseracece, having a calyx of 2 (or rarely 3) sepals, which very soon fall off; a corolla of 4 (rarely 6) petals; numer ous stamens seated on a receptacle; the stigma crowning the germen, without a style, -and in the form of 4-20 rays; the capsule opening by pores under the persistent stigma, imperfectly divided into cells by partitions as numerous as the rays of the stigma, but which do not reach the center; the seeds extremely numerous. There are numerous spe cies of poppy, mostly natives of Europe and Asia, some of them found even in very northern regions, but most of them in the warmer temperate parts. They are rather large herbaceous plants, annual or perennial, mostly sprinkled with bristly hairs. They have a white milky juice; a disagreeable narcotic smell, particularly when bruised; pin natifid or hipinnalifid leaves, more rarely jagged or toothed leaves; and large showy flowers. which readily become double by cultivation. The capsules are curious, from the manner in which they fling out their seeds when the plant is shaken by the wind; each capsule being somewhat like a round or oval pepper-box, with boles, however, not in the top, where rain might get in by them, but under the rim. By far the most imporMut species is that known as the OPIUM POPPY (P. somniferum), also called the Wu= Porrr, and the OIL POPPY. See But the same species is important on account of the bland fixed oil of the seeds, and is much cultivated as an oil-plant. Poppy oilis as sweet as olive oil, and is used for similar purposes. It is imported into Britain in considerable quantities from India. The poppy is also extensively cultivated for it in France, Belgium, and Germany. The use and manufacture of this oil were for a long time, during last .century, strictly prohibited in France, from a mistaken notion that it must partake of the narcotic properties of the milky juice of the plant. The seed, however, contains not opium or any narcotic principle, and was well known to the ancients as a pleasant article of food, fit to be eaten by itself or with bread. The oil expressed from it is perfectly wholesome, and is much used in France and elsewhere, as an article of food. Fully one half of the oil used for cooking and otherwise for alimentary purposes in France is of this kind. The seeds yield about 40 per cent of oil, and the oil-cake is useful for man ure or for feeding cattle The oil is sometimes used by painters and by soap-boilers; but it is not good for burning. In the cultivation of the poppy for oil the seed is often sown
in autumn, where the severity of the winter-frosts is not to be feared; in more northern parts it is sown in spring, and sometimes the seed is scattered on the top of the snow with which the ground is covered. Being very small, it needs little or no harrowing. Early sowing is favorable to the size of the plant, and the abundance of produce. Hoe ing and thinning are advantageous. An open but rich soil is best for the poppy; and a sheltered situation is necessary, as in exposed situations, much of the seed is scattered. by the wind. The poppy does not exhaust the land so much as colza, rape, and some other oil plants. Harvesting ought to begin when one-fourth of the capsules of each plant are open. It is accomplished by pulling the plants in such a manner as not to shake the seed out of the capsules, and tying them in sheafs, which are placed together in an erect or slightly sloping position, till the ripening of the capsules is completed,. when the seed is taken out by shaking the capsules into a tub or on a cloth, great care• being used to prevent any earth from the roots from getting mixed with them. Some farmers in Flanders sow poppy in alternate rows with carrots. The variety of poppy chiefly cultivated as an oil-plant has flowers of a dull reddish color, large oblong capsules, and brownish seeds; but the white-flowered variety. with globular capsules and white. seeds, is also used.—The ORIENTAL POPPY (P. orientate), a native of Armenia and the Caucasus, a perennial species, is often planted in wardens on account of its very large, fiery-red flowers. Its unripe capsules have an acrid, almost burning taste; but are eaten by the Turks, and opium is extracted from them.—Several species are British, all of them local, rare in some places, and troublesome weeds in corn-fields in other places quite similar in climate. Among them is the CORN POPPY or COMMON RED POPPY' (P. rhoeas), with bright red flowers, and deeply pinnatifid leaves. The petals are mticilL aginous and slightly bitter; they have a slight narcotic smell, and a syrup made of them, is sometimes used as an anodyne iu catarrhs and children's complaints; but they are more valued for the rich red color which they yield. A variety with double flowers is cultivated in flower-gardens, under the name of carnation poppy. Among the the poppy was sacred to Ceres.