THE CAL1FORNIAN TREE^POPPIES. 



beneath a wall or in a sheltered corner, 

 with some water in dry weather, with- 

 out which the flowers are apt to come 

 deformed. In damp seasons it often 

 flowers well, a single plant sometimes 

 showing scores of flowers at a time, but 

 copious hand-watering is againstflower- 

 ing. The second kind, Romneya tricho- 

 calyx, comes so near the older one as 

 often to pass for it, the main differences 

 being a round hairy bud as against a 

 smooth pointed one in R. Coulteri, a 

 weaker and more spreading habit, and 

 more leafy stems. The Romneya grows 

 wild over a wide region from California 

 into Mexico, being especially abundant 

 in the wild canyons of the interior, 

 whose sides are often thickly covered 

 with these great bushy plants loaded 

 with enormous flowers. 



The Prickly Tree-Poppies (Arge- 

 mone) are a little group of some half- 

 dozen kinds from California, Mexico, 

 and the warm plains of the Mississippi 

 region, growing upon dry hillsides, and 

 beautiful in leaf and flower. Though 

 perennial in America they do best as 

 annuals in this country, reachingagood 

 size and flowering well in one season; 

 they are therefore suited to gardens in 

 which the perennial Tree-Poppies fail. 

 Their leaves are deeply cut and more or 

 less prickly, grey-green in colour with 

 white veins and spines. Their flowers 

 are 4 inches or more across, in colour 

 white, yellow,orange, or (rarely) purple. 

 The best known kind, Argemone his- 

 pida, from the south-west of the United 

 States and Mexico, bears beautiful white 

 flowers of 4 or 5 inches in great abund- 

 ance. This is now regarded as only a form 



299 



of Argemone platyceras, a robust plant 

 of 3 to 4 feet, with bluish-green leaves 

 thickly spined, and large white flowers 

 showingat times traces ofcolour deepen- 

 ing to purple. Its commoner form (A. 

 hispidd) makes a stout bush of 4 or 5 feet, 

 when planted early in rich light soil, with 

 shelter and a sunny aspect. In many 

 gardens it does far better than Romneya, 

 if sown early, either in the open during 

 April or when fresh seed can be had in 

 autumn and wintered under glass. The 

 plant is at its best duringa sunny autumn, 

 strong plants often bearing a score or 

 more of flowers at once. Other kinds 

 worth growing are : The Mexican Prick- 

 ly Poppy (A. Mexicand), which is very 

 similar but not so tall or of such good 

 habit. Its leaves are less prickly, prettily 

 blotched with white, and the orange or 

 yellow flowers are borne upon very short 

 stalks; Mexicana albiflora is a variety of 

 this with larger white flowers ; and A. 

 ochroleuca^ though sometimes classed as 

 a distinct species, is also a form of this 

 species, with flowers of pale yellow. 

 Anotherprettykind is the large-flowered 

 Prickly Poppy [A. grandiflord)^ a low 

 branching bush of 2 to 3 feet, with fine 

 Thistle-like leaves and stems and large 

 white flowers clustered upon the lead- 

 ing shoots. These plants will sometimes 

 survive a mild winter in warm gardens 

 of the south, but are best raised afresh 

 each year, sown early in heat and p] anted 

 from pots, or sown later where they are 

 to grow. 



The Yellow Tree-Poppy (Dendro- 

 mecon rigidum) grows as a bushy shrub 

 where the dry sandy hills of southern 

 California creep down towards the sea. 



