Herbals, Their Origin and Evolution: A Chapter in the History of Botany 1470-1670
Book V, Section I includes _Solanum_, _Mandragora_, _Hyoscyamus_,
_Nicotiana_, _Papaver_, _Hypecoum_ and _Argemone_—that is to say four genera from the Solanaceæ followed by three from the Papaveraceæ. The common character which brings them together here is, no doubt, their narcotic property, but, although no definite line was drawn between the plants belonging to these two widely sundered families, the order in which they are described shows that their distinctness was recognised. Some of Bauhin’s other groups, however, which, like that just discussed, are distinguished by their properties, or, in other words, by their chemical features, have no pretension to naturalness from a morphological standpoint. This is the case with the group described in