226 PAPAVERACEAE 



3. ROMNEYA Harv. Lond. Journ. Bot. 4: 75. pi. 3. 1845. 



Erect glaucescent perennial, branching from a half-woody base, with colorless sap, 

 pinnately divided leaves and very large white flowers. Sepals 3. Petals 6. Stamens nu- 

 merous, the filaments somewhat flattened below, the anthers oblong, yellow. Ovary ob- 

 long, densely setose, more or less completely several-celled by the intrusion of the many- 

 ovuled placentae. Valves 7-12, opening from the summit downward. Seeds finely tuber - 

 culate. [Name in honor of the astronomer, T. Romney Robinson.] 



A monotypic California genus. 



1. Romneya Cdulteri Harv. Matilija Poppy. Fig. 1888. 



Romneya Coulteri Harv. Lond. Journ. Bot. 4: 75. 1845. 



Stems herbaceous, stout, from a woody base, branching and forming a rounded clump 1-2.5 

 m. high. Leaves scattered, firm in texture, 6-12 cm. long, lobed or divided into 3-9 divisions, 

 these cuneate-oblong or lanceolate, dentate, the margins and rachis _ often sparsely ciliate ; 

 flowers terminating the branches; sepals smooth, beaked; petals white, broadly obovate or 

 orbicular, 4-6 cm. long, delicate and crepe-like. 



Arroyos and canyon floors, Upper Sonoran Zone; Santa Barbara County to San Diego County, California. 

 Type locality: collected by Coulter, but definite locality not known. April-Aug. 



Romneya Coulteri var. trichocalyx (Eastw.) Tepson, Fl. Calif. 563. 1922. Differs from the typical 

 species in having setose-hispid and beakless sepals. Ventura County, California, to northern Lower California. 



4. DENDROMECON Benth. Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. II. 1 : 407. 1835. 



Smooth branching shrubs, with alternate, vertical, rigid, entire or ciliate-denticulate 

 leaves and showy yellow flowers. Sepals 2. Petals 4, yellow. Stamens numerous, with 

 short filiform filaments and linear anthers. Ovary linear, 1-celled, with 2 nerve-like 

 placentae. Capsule elongated, elastically 2-valved from the base upward. Seeds obovoid 

 or globose, finely pitted, carunculate at the hilum. [Name Greek, meaning tree and 

 poppy.] 



A California genus of two species. 



Leaves lanceolate, conspicuously reticulate. 1. D. rigida. 



Leaves elliptic to oblong-ovate, not conspicuously reticulate. 2. D. Harfordii. 



1. Dendromecon rigida Benth. Tree Poppy. Fig. 1889. 



Dendromecon rigida Benth. Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. II. 1 : 407. 1835. 



Erect shrub, 1-3 m. high, with slender, mostly erect branches and light-colored shreddy bark. 

 Leaves lanceolate and cuspidate-acuminate, varying to oblong and obtuse, 2-6 cm. long, pale or 

 glaucescent, vertical by a twist of the petiole ; flowers on terminal or axillary peduncles ; petals 

 bright yellow, 15-30 mm. long ; capsule 4-6 cm. long, arcuate, strongly striate. 



Dry chaparral ridges, often abundant after fires, Upper Sonoran Zone; Coast Ranges and the Sierra 

 Nevada of northern California to northern Lower California. Type locality: California. April-July. 



Considerable variation is manifest in the size and shape of the leaves and to a less extent in the flowers, 

 which led Greene (Pittonia 5: 296-306. 1905) to recognize seventeen species, and Fedde (Pflanzenreich 4 10 *: 

 136—143. 1909) to increase the number to twenty. 



2. Dendromecon Harfordii Kell. Island Tree Poppy. Fig. 1890. 



Dendromecon Harfordii Kell. Proc. Calif. Acad. 5: 102. 1873. 

 Dendromecon flexile Greene, Bull. Torrey Club 13: 216. 1886. 

 Dendromecon rigida var. Harfordii K. Brandg. Zoe 4: 83. 1893. 



Erect shrub or tree 2-6 m. high, the branches spreading, or even drooping, forming a 

 rounded crown. Leaves pale, elliptic to oblong-ovate, 3-6 cm. long, entire, reticulations of the 

 surface usually not conspicuous ; peduncles not exceeding the leaves ; petals 2-4 cm. long ; 

 capsule 7-10 cm. long, arcuate. 



Brushy slopes. Upper Sonoran Zone; Channel Islands, California. Type locality: Santa Rosa Island, 

 California. April-July. 



5. ESCHSCHOLZIA Cham, in Nees, Hor. Phys. Ber. 73. 1820. 



Smooth glaucous annual or perennial herbs, with colorless sap, ternately dissected 

 leaves and bright orange or yellow flowers. Receptacle dilated, forming a funnel-shaped 

 torus around the base of the pistil. Sepals 2, borne on the torus, coherent into a pointed 

 hood-like calyptra and pushed off by the expanding petals. Petals normally 4, rarely 6 

 or 8, stamens numerous, with short filaments and linear anthers. Ovary cylindric, 1-celied, 

 with 2 nerve-like placentae; styles short; stigma divided into 4-6 linear divergent lobes. 

 Capsule elongated, 10-nerved, dehiscent from the base and separating from the placentae. 

 Seeds globose, reticulate or rough-tuberculate. [Name in honor of Dr. J. F. Eschscholtz, 

 German poet and naturalist who together with Chamisso was on the Romanzoff Expedi- 

 tion to the Pacific Coast.] 



