POPPY FAMILY. 177 



been favored with an exceptional number of poetic names, mostly derived from 

 Spanish sources, such as "Copa de Oro," "Ton^a," "Amapola, " "Dormi- 

 dora." 



This species is highly variable, especially so in trivial details of leaf segmen- 

 tation and of shape of calyptra, and in habit, and so runs into a vast concourse 

 of forms, many of which seem obviously seasonal or are due to slight soil vari- 

 ations or moisture conditions. A large number of these forms have been col- 

 lected but perhaps not one-tenth (or even less) of those in existence. Yet the 

 number of specimens distributed to herbaria has been sufficient to form the 

 basis for nearly 100 proposed new species, published by Eastern and Euro- 

 pean systematists within a very few years. It does not seem hopeful that the 

 solving of the problem of Eschscholtzia californica in just this way will lead 

 either to permanent results or afford a satisfactory basis for the kind of work 

 most needed, namely the prosecution of combined field and cultural studies. 



2. E. caespitosa Benth. Annual, % to 2 ft. high; stems few or many, 

 slender or rather stout, leafy at base; leaves mostly twice ternately dis- 

 sected; peduncles 3 to 8 in. long, much exceeding the leaves; calyx oblong-con- 

 ical, abruptly slender pointed; receptacle short-tubular, 1 to 2 lines deep; 

 petals % to 1 in. long; capsule iy 2 to 3 in. long; seeds reticulate; embryo 

 % of a line long, the cotyledons (as seen in the seed) divergent. 



Canon sides of the higher Coast Eanges : Vaca Mts. ; Napa Range and south- 

 ward. Apr. -May. 



E. tenuifolia Hook. Scapose, the leaves in a basal tuft with narrow and 

 comparatively few divisions; petals light yellow, 4 or 5 lines long; seeds 

 strongly muricate with flattened processes. — Sierra Nevada foothills. 



3. E. rhombipetala Greene. Acaulescent, densely tufted; scapes very 

 many, stout, diffuse, 3 to 4 in. high, twice as long or equaled or exceeded by 

 the thick tuft of nearly equal subradical leaves; these laciniately cleft into 

 3 to 6 linear divisions, glaucous or glaucescent ; receptacle subcylindrical ; 

 spreading rim obsolete, likewise the scarious inner margin or this very narrow 

 and approximate to the trace of the obsolete rim; petals rhombic-ovate or 

 orbicular, 5 lines long, 6 lines broad, fugacious; capsule 3 in. long or less, 

 very large for the size of the plant; seeds reticulate; embryo about % line 

 long; cotyledons very short, the embryo with scarcely more than a notch at 

 the apex. 



Plains and rolling country near the inner Coast Range foothills: Western 

 Solano Co. to Antioch. Mar.-Apr. Scapes sparsely tuberculate-scabrous. 



5. ARGEMONE L. Prickly Poppy. 



Annual herbs with acrid orange juice, prickly sinuate or pinnatifid leaves 

 and flowers erect in the bud. Sepals 2 (often 3), with horn-like appendage 

 below apex. Petals twice as many as the sepals. Ovary 1-celled; stigmas 

 radiate. Capsule 4 to 6-valved at summit. (Greek name of some herb, trans- 

 ferred here.) 



1. A. platyceras Link & Otto var. hispida Prain. Chicalote. Leafy- 

 stemmed, branching, 1 to 2 ft. high; petals white; capsule very prickly. 



Sand-banks of river bottoms or mountain flats: Northern Lake Co. (Ery- 

 thea, i, 14); Sierra Nevada; • Southern California. 



6. PAPAVER L. Poppy. 

 Ours annual herbs with narcotic juice. Leaves pinnately cleft, lobed, or 

 divided. Flowers showy, solitary on long peduncles, nodding in bud. Sepals 



