PAPAVERACEAE. 145 



1. PLATYSTEMON Benth. Cream Cup. 



Low villous annuals with entire mainly opposite 

 leaves and cream-colored flowers. Sepals 3. Petals 6. 

 Stamens many, with flattened filaments and linear an- 

 thers. Carpels 6-25, at first united; stigmas linear, free. 

 Fruit of as many distinct linear indehiscent torulose 

 pods, 3-8-seeded, at length breaking transversely be- 

 tween the seeds. 



1. P. calif omicum Benth. Slender, branching from the base, 

 more or less decumbent, 15-30 cm. high, pilose; leaves 5-8 cm. long, 

 sessile or clasping, broadly linear; peduncles erect, 8-20 cm. long; 

 sepals villous; petals 6-12 mm. long, cream-yellow, sometimes 

 shading to yellow toward the base; carpels 6-25, forming an oblong 

 head, 10-20 mm. long, beaked by the persistent stigmas. 



Common in sandy soil throughout our range below 3000 feet 

 altitude. March-May. 



2. MECONELLA Nutt. 



Low slender annuals with leaves, sepals and petals as 

 in Platystemon. Stamens 6-12; filaments filiform or 

 nearly so. Ovary 1 -celled with 3 parietal placentae, 

 somewhat 3-lobed or nearly terete; stigmas ovate to 

 subulate. Capsule 3-valved, dehiscent through the 

 placentae. 



1. M. denticulata Greene. Glabrous, branching, 8-25 cm. 

 high; lower leaves spatulate or the small blade rhombic-ovate and 

 narrowed into a broad petiole, 1-3 cm. long; upper spatulate or 

 linear-oblong, entire or denticulate; petals narrow, oblong, 2-4 mm. 

 long; stamens 6-9; anthers linear, equaling or exceeding the filaments. 

 {Platystigma denticulatum Greene.) 



Occasional in shady places in the foothills. March-May. 



3. ROMNEYA Harv. Matilija Poppy. 



Smooth stout erect perennial half woody plants, with 

 colorless juice, pinnately divided alternate leaves and very 

 large showy flowers. Sepals 3, with a broad membranac- 

 eous dorsal wing. Petals 6. Stamens numerous, with 

 filiform filaments somewhat thickened below, and oblong 

 anthers. Ovary oblong, 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 tuberculate. 



1. R. coulteri Harv. Herbaceous stem 1-2.5 m. high, from a 

 soft woody base, branching above, glabrous glaucescent; leaves of 

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