It is produced from the heads of the Opium Poppy (_Papaver somniferum_). Any poppy (or indeed any plant of the Poppy order) when scratched or wounded exudes a thick white or orange milky fluid. This is called "latex" (or milk); it is always more or less poisonous, and generally contains some sort of resinous matter. Thus when the plant is scratched or pierced, a drop of this milky latex comes out and at once hardens over the wound. Of course the plant is much benefited by this, for any destructive insect, unless it is a confirmed opium-eater, will be poisoned or killed; then also, if wounds are caused by wind, heavy rain, or animals passing, the scar is at once healed over and covered by the hardened opium, so that no dangerous fungus spores can get in to attack the plant. There is a mildew fungus and also a smut fungus (_Entyloma_) which attack the poppy, but both these enter by the stomata and live between the cells of the plant. The general appearance of the Opium Poppy is quite familiar; its upright stems, large, clasping, bluish-green leaves and conspicuous flowers may be seen in many gardens. It is rather interesting, and in many ways; when young, the buds droop or hang down, and are entirely enclosed in two large green, hairy sepals. These last are soon thrown off, and then the flowers open out and display the petals with their rich black spots, and the crowded mass of stamens which surround the central greenish head. In bud these petals are "cramb'd up within the empalement by hundreds of little wrinkles or puckers as if three or four fine cambrick handkerchifs [_sic_] were thrust into one's pocket," as an old writer describes it (Grew). Bees, and especially bumbles, are extremely fond of it, and even seem to be, in a way, opium-eaters, for they get quite exalted, almost intoxicated, and above their ordinary laborious selves. They scurry round and round the flower under the stamens or hover excitedly above it.