Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 85 



las wrote to a friend: "I assure you from the bottom of my heart, 

 Dr. Hooker, that it is a terrible pleasure to meet a really good man, 

 one with whom I can talk on plants." It was a happy accident that 

 brought together these two enthusiastic souls, on similar missions 

 bent, in this far wilderness of the Pacific Coast, surrounded as they 

 must have been by an unfriendly people. 



The Matilija acquired its Indian name from the canon of the 

 Matilija River in Ventura County, where it is said to have been 

 quite abundant at one time ; but since the terrible floods of 1914, the 

 blossoms are seldom found in that locality. 



There is a pretty tradition attached to this wonderful bloom, 

 which was incorporated by Emory E. Smith in his splendid book, 

 "The Golden Poppy" (now out of print). Mr. Smith told me quite 

 recently that the legend was related to him by an old Mexican 

 Indian, near Santa Barbara, about twenty-seven years ago, and that, 

 being a newcomer to the Golden West, it had interested him par- 

 ticularly at the time because these plants seemed to favor the most 

 difficult canon fastnesses of that region. According to tradition, 

 this great, snowy flower with its heart of gold" had won from the 

 Spanish Californians the name of the "Love Flower," owing to its 

 unusual popularity with the Spanish senoritas. The gallants of 

 those days were wont to visit the steep cliffs in the early spring, 

 where they might find the earliest "Love Flower" of the year. When 

 two suitors sought the same maiden's hand, and she was unable to 

 decide, it was the one who brought to her the first "Love Flower" 

 who was accepted. There are, of course, tales of treacherous deeds, 

 when contestants met on overhanging cliffs in the lonely mountains, 

 and it is even whispered that one spring a "Love Flower" bloomed 

 a blood-red, marking the spot where a worthy lover had battled 

 valiantly against great odds, but lost the flower and his life. That 

 was in the long ago, before the "Gringo" came. 



When the Stjite flower was adopted by the California Legisla- 

 ture, in 1903, the Matilija Poppy was favored by quite a few people; 

 but the Golden Poppy was chosen because it was more widely dis- 

 tributed over the State and its color more symbolical, while the giant 

 white poppy (which belongs to the same family) was restricted to 

 a few canons and localities in the southland. 



R. coulteri was long supposed to be the only species of Rom- 

 neya, but Miss Alice Eastwood discovered and described another 

 variety, R. trichocalyx Eastwood. The two plants are very similar 

 in appearance, but a difference between them is clearly recognized 

 by experts and' the latter is considered somewhat handsomer, being 

 the true Matilija, which once commonly inhabited the canon of that 

 name. 



One often sees Matilija Poppies growing under cultivation, and 

 it is somewhat surprising to learn that many people in California 

 are not aware of the fact that these truly magnificent blossoms 

 belong to our California wildings. 



