Narratives Details:
Title:
Argemone mexicana L.
Argemone mexicana L.
Authors:
Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne
Nathaniel Lord Britton, Frances W. Horne
Scientific Name:
Argemone mexicana L.
Argemone mexicana L.
Description:
Flora Borinqueña Cardo santo Mexican Poppy Family Papaveraceae Poppy Family Argemone mexicana Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 508. 1753. Common as a weed in waste and cultivated grounds, nearly throughout tropical America, ranging northward into the continental United States and to Bermuda, and widely distributed in the Old World, this herbaceous plant is conspicuous by its large, yellow, or orange flowers. The original limits of its natural distribution are unknown, and these have been widely extended during the historic period, following commerce and agriculture; seeds are produced in abundance, and they germinate freely and are readily scattered. In Porto Rico, as elsewhere in the West Indies and in the continental United States, the plant does not appear to be native. When described by Linnaeus in 1753, it had already reached southern Europe, and there is evidence that it had been introduced into the Old World much earlier. It is the type-species of its genus, and the only one growing in Porto Rico. Sissle is another popular name. Argemone (Greek, an eye disease, supposed to be relieved by these plants) is a genus of about 10 species, natives of temperate and tropical America. They are pale green herbs, with yellow sap, spiny-toothed, mostly alternate, broad leaves, and large, regular and perfect flowers. There are 2 or 3 sepals, which fall away soon after the flowers open, and 4 or 6 petals, also of short duration; the 8 stamens are separate, with very slender filaments, the anthers opening longitudinally; the 1-celled ovary contains many ovules, the style is very short, the broad stigma with from 3 to 6 rays. The fruit is a rather large, oblong, prickly capsule, opening at the top, by valves, to discharge the many, cancellate seeds. Argemone mexicana (the plant is recorded as native in Mexico) is an upright herb, from 0.3 to 0.6 meter high, the stem spiny or unarmed. The stalkless leaves clasp the stem, are from 8 to 25 centimeters long, deeply, irregularly cleft, spiny-toothed, and more or less spiny on the veins; the stalkless, or very short-stalked flowers vary much in size, from 2 to 8 centimeters broad, the sepals bristle-tipped, the broad petals thin. The capsule is 2.5 or 3 centimeters long, capped by the persistent stigma.
Flora Borinqueña Cardo santo Mexican Poppy Family Papaveraceae Poppy Family Argemone mexicana Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 508. 1753. Common as a weed in waste and cultivated grounds, nearly throughout tropical America, ranging northward into the continental United States and to Bermuda, and widely distributed in the Old World, this herbaceous plant is conspicuous by its large, yellow, or orange flowers. The original limits of its natural distribution are unknown, and these have been widely extended during the historic period, following commerce and agriculture; seeds are produced in abundance, and they germinate freely and are readily scattered. In Porto Rico, as elsewhere in the West Indies and in the continental United States, the plant does not appear to be native. When described by Linnaeus in 1753, it had already reached southern Europe, and there is evidence that it had been introduced into the Old World much earlier. It is the type-species of its genus, and the only one growing in Porto Rico. Sissle is another popular name. Argemone (Greek, an eye disease, supposed to be relieved by these plants) is a genus of about 10 species, natives of temperate and tropical America. They are pale green herbs, with yellow sap, spiny-toothed, mostly alternate, broad leaves, and large, regular and perfect flowers. There are 2 or 3 sepals, which fall away soon after the flowers open, and 4 or 6 petals, also of short duration; the 8 stamens are separate, with very slender filaments, the anthers opening longitudinally; the 1-celled ovary contains many ovules, the style is very short, the broad stigma with from 3 to 6 rays. The fruit is a rather large, oblong, prickly capsule, opening at the top, by valves, to discharge the many, cancellate seeds. Argemone mexicana (the plant is recorded as native in Mexico) is an upright herb, from 0.3 to 0.6 meter high, the stem spiny or unarmed. The stalkless leaves clasp the stem, are from 8 to 25 centimeters long, deeply, irregularly cleft, spiny-toothed, and more or less spiny on the veins; the stalkless, or very short-stalked flowers vary much in size, from 2 to 8 centimeters broad, the sepals bristle-tipped, the broad petals thin. The capsule is 2.5 or 3 centimeters long, capped by the persistent stigma.
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