Knoxville Journal

Discovery of a Lost Plant.

A short time ago we cited a number of instances wherein the vitality of seeds had been preserved for a long period of years. There has lately come to light a fresh case, which will rank among the most curious on record. The mines of Laurium, in Greece, which were worked about 1,600 years ago, are, in a great measure, composed of scoria, or the refuse of ancient mines, which still yields a high percentage of silver. In clearing away a mass of this refuse a quantity of seeds were discovered, which must have been buried for at least fifteen centuries. Restored to conditions favorable for germination, to the heat of the sun and contact with the air, the seeds gave signs of life, burst their husks, and sent down roots into the earth, and threw up stems into the light. When these last had budded and blossomed, lo! a lost species of the genus Glaucium (horned poppy) of the order Papaveraceae was revealed.

Pliny and Dioscorides frequently describe the flower in their writings with great particularity, as its golden corolla is very beautiful; but it has hitherto been unknown to modern science. Now the plant which had disappeared from the face of the globe for 1,500 years or more is resuscitated by a strange and happy accident.—Chicago Tribune.