MATILJJA POPPY (Romneya Coitlteri, Harv.). Flowers 

 white, 5 or 6 inches, or even more in diameter, with crepe-like 

 petals and a golden centre of numerous stamens, upon a bushy 

 plant from 2 to 6 feet high (or under favorable conditions 

 twice that); leaves smooth, rather glaucous, bluish-green, pinn- 

 ately parted or divided. Blooming in late spring and summer. 



Of all the Pacific Coast wild flowers, the Matilija Poppy 

 is the most regal. It gets its name from the CaSon of the 

 Matilija (pronounced matil' ee-hafi) River of Ventura County, 

 California, where its abundance once made it locally famous. 

 While not a common plant, it is found in scattered localities 

 over a considerable area in Southern California as in Santa 

 Barbara and Ventura Counties, the Santa Ana Mountains 

 near Riverside, the Puente Hills near Los Angeles, and along 

 the southern border of San Diego County, whence it extends 

 well down into Lower California. It haunts stream borders 

 in canons and open, dry hillsides a plant of catholic taste. 



The botanical name was given, as to genus, in honor of a 

 gifted Irish astronomer, Thomas Romney Robinson of Armagh 

 Observatory, and as to species, to commemorate Dr. Thomas 

 Coulter, the botanist who first collected it. It is one of the 

 many California plants introduced into gardens. 

 Co 



