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On the other hand De Candolle in his "Prodromus" mentions the pistilloid wall-flowers as a distinct variety, under the name of Cheiranthus Cheiri gynantherus, and the analogous form of the opium-poppy is not at all an accidental anomaly, but an old true horticultural variety, which can be bought everywhere under the names of Papaver somniferum monstruosum or polycephalum.
It is neither common nor rare, but in most cases the change is so slight comparatively that it is ordinarily overlooked. In the opium-poppy, on the contrary, it is very showy, and heightens the ornamental effect of the young fruits after the fading of the flowers. Here the central capsule is surrounded by a large crown of metamorphosed stamens.
Some varieties are as old as culture itself, and it is generally known that the Romans cultivated the white form of the opium-poppy and used the foliage of the red variety of the sugarbeet as a vegetable. In our time flowers and fruits are changing nearly as rapidly as the fancies and tastes of men. Every year new forms are introduced and usurp the place of older ones. Many are soon forgotten.
The opium-poppy affords a good instance. It "varies" in height, in color of foliage and flowers; the last are often double or laciniated; it may have white or bluish seeds, the capsules may open themselves or remain closed and so on. But every single variety is absolutely constant, and never runs into another, when the flowers are artificially pollinated and the visits of insects excluded.
Among them a chamois-colored variety of the common stock, a bluish Clarkia elegans and a curiously colored opium-poppy may be mentioned. In some cases the crossfertilization is so overwhelming, that in the next generation the novelty seems entirely to have disappeared.
The "Swan" variety of the opium-poppy, a dwarfish double-flowered form of a pure white, contained some single-flowered and some red-flowered plants, when sown from commercial seed are said to be pure.
In extreme instances I have seen all the changed stamens of a flower of the opium-poppy united into a single body, so as to form a close sheath all around the central ovary. Lesser sheaths, surrounding one-half or one-third of the capsule are of course less rarely met with.
Sin Sin Wa could be heard crooning softly about the Yellow River and the mountain gods who sent it sweeping down through the valleys where the opium-poppy grows. "Go, Juan," hissed Mrs. Sin. "I say go!" Her voice changed eerily to a deep, mocking bass; and Rita Irvin lying, a pallid wraith of her once lovely self, upon the untidy bed, stirred slightly her lashes quivering.
There are a large number of cultivated varieties of different species which by some peculiarity do not seem adapted for the conditions of life in the wild state. These last have often been used to prove the origin of varietal forms during culture. One of the oldest instances is the variety or rather subspecies of the opium-poppy, which lacks the ability to burst open its capsules.
Sin Sin Wa placidly pursued his arrangements for immediate departure to the paddyfields of Ho-Nan, and sometimes in the weird crooning voice with which he addressed the raven he would sing a monotonous chant dealing with the valley of the Yellow River where the opium-poppy grows.
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