CHAPTER IX 



with the poppies at home ; neither do I find that they fling their 

 fruits quite away from the receptacle ; all of which only shows that 

 plants behave differently under different conditions. Our poppies 

 can sometimes pollinate themselves when they are open ; they are 

 almost sure to do so as they close, and the insects that seek shelter in 

 them must also effect close pollination ; still much pollen is carried 

 from flower to flower, and some botanists think them quite infertile 

 to their own pollen. It is probable, though it has not been proved, that 

 when flowers receive both their own and another flower's pollen, the 

 foreign pollen is prepotent. 



The flame-colored poppy, Meconopsis (Papaver) heterophylhim, to 

 be fully appreciated, must be seen lifting its nodding buds and satiny 

 flowers from some grassy slope. The flowers in the south are not more 

 than an inch in diameter, in the north they are sometimes two inches. 



The tree poppy, Dendromecon rigidum, Benth. , rivals the Kshschol- 

 tzia in splendor ; the flowers are not so large nor so deeply colored, 

 but the shrubs, which blossom most profusely,- are sometimes fifteen 

 feet high. In Southern California the tree poppy chooses sandy 

 washes, and while the plants are sometimes washed away by floods 

 they are also distributed by this means ; occasionally one gets 

 stranded within the city limits of I^os Angeles. The acme of showi- 

 ness is attained by the two white species, Argemone platyceras, var. 

 .hispida, Prain, and Romneya Coulteri, Harv. Both have great, 

 crinkled, white petals and numerous yellow anthers, and the bumble 

 bees fairly wallow in their pollen. The Argemone is widely dis- 

 tributed in the southwest. It flowers in summer and loves hot, sandy 

 washes. I have seen plants six feet high standing alone in the sand. 

 The Romneya is often known as the Matilija poppv, because it is 

 abundant in a canon of that name in Ventura County ; but it is found 

 in many other canons in Southern California, and is gaining rapidly 

 in favor as a cultivated plant. The cream cup, Platystemon Calif 01- 

 nicus, Benth., is of more modest dimensions, but it is justly a great 

 favorite ; it often quite takes possession of waste or semi-cultivated 

 soil and produces myriads of creamy white flowers. In exposed 

 places the flowers may have a liberal dash of red coloring matter. 

 One member of this family, common in damp canons, Platy stigma 

 denticulatum , Greene, is remarkable for its delicate beauty ; it has 

 little, star-like, white flowers and is likely to be mistaken for a lily 

 unless one discovers the three green sepals of the bud. 



The mustard family, Cruciferse, has also marked characteristics, as 

 noted in the Reader. Most Cruciferae have dehiscent fruits, and 

 when the two valves separate at maturity, a transparent partition 



67 



