POPPY FAMILY 
37 
1. P. califomicus Benth. Cream Cups. Branched from the base, the 
branches ascending, 7.2 to 14.4 cm. high; herbage hairy; flowers yellow, 
on long stalks.—Open hills and plains. 
2. MECONELLA Nutt. 
Resembling Platystemon, but sepals sometimes 2 and petals 4. Sta¬ 
mens 6 to 12 or more. Fruit a 3-valved pod. (Greek mekon, poppy, and 
ella, diminutive.) 
Herbage glabrous ; stamens 6 to 12 ; leaves not all basal.1. M. oregana. 
Herbage hairy ; stamens numerous ; leaves all basal or nearly so.2. M. linearis . 
1. M. oregana Nutt var. califomicus (Torr.) Jepson. Very slender 
branching plant 4.6 to 16.8 cm. high; lower leaves roundish or obovate, 
upper oblanceolate or linear; flower-stalks 4.8 to 7 cm. long, erect at 
first, in fruit turned downward horizontally; petals white, 6 to 12 mm. 
long; filaments thread-like or slightly widened upward; pod cylindrical, 
twisted.—Valleys and low hills. 
2. M. linearis (Benth.) Jepson. Stemless or nearly so, the flower-stalks 
scape-like, 9.6 to 19 cm. high: leaves linear; petals light yellow, 8 to 18 
mm. long; filaments conspicuously widened; pod 3-lobed.—Valleys and 
low hills. 
3. DENDROMECON Benth. 
Shrub with alternate entire somewhat leathery leaves and yellow 
flowers. Stamens numerous. Style short, bearing 2 stigmas. Pod linear 
and seeds pitted. (Greek dendron, tree, and mekon, poppy.) 
1. D. rigida Benth. Bush-Poppy. Shrub 5.7 to 20 dm. high, the main 
trunk with very shreddy bark; leaves ovate- to linear-lanceolate, borne on 
short petioles which, by a twist, bring the blade vertical; flowers 2.4 to 6 
cm. broad; pod curved, 4.8 to 9.6 cm. long.—Dry slopes and ridges at 
middle altitudes. 
4. ARGEMONE L. Prickly Poppy 
Annual herbs with acrid orange juice and prickly sinuate or pinnatifid 
leaves. Flowers erect in the bud. Sepals 2 (often 3) with a horn-like 
appendage below apex. Petals 4 (or 6). (Greek name of some herb, 
transferred here.) 
1. A. platyceras Link & Otto. Robust, 4 to 11.5 dm. high, very spiny; 
petals white; capsule-valves crested or spiny.—S. Cal. Var. hispida 
Prain. Chicalote. Whole plant densely setose-hispid as well as armed 
with stouter yellow spines.—Mountain valleys or canon flats. 
5. PAPAVER L. Poppy 
Herbs with the leaves pinnately cleft, lobed or divided. Flowers soli¬ 
tary on long stalks. Sepals 2. Petals 4. Stamens many. Pod sub-glo¬ 
bose or obovoid, with 4 to many intruded placentae. (Latin name of the 
poppy.) 
Juice milky; stigmas sessile, radiating upon the summit of the ovary. 
1. P. californicum. 
Juice yellow; stigmas capitate upon a short slender style. 2. P. heterophyllum. 
1. P. calif ornicum Gray. Western Poppy. Plants 4.3 to 6 dm. high; 
leaves pinnately divided, the segments oblong or roundish, lobed, toothed 
or entire; petals red with a green spot at base; pod turbinate-obovate.— 
Hill country, cismontane S. Cal.; n. to Marin Co. 
