''Romneya trichocalyx'', the bristly Matilija poppy or hairy Matilija poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the poppy family. This poppy is native to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

, as well as

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, Mexico, where it grows in dry canyons in

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterrane ...

and

coastal sage scrub Coastal sage scrub, also known as coastal scrub, CSS, or soft chaparral, is a low scrubland plant community of the California coastal sage and chaparral subecoregion, found in coastal California and northwestern coastal Baja California. It is ...

plant communities. Like its relative ''

Romneya coulteri ''Romneya coulteri'', the Coulter's Matilija poppy or California tree poppy, is a perennial species of flowering plant in the poppy family Papaveraceae. Native to southern California, USA, and Baja California, Mexico, it grows in dry canyons in ...

'', it is used as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

, kept for its large, showy flowers. It is a shrub tall, growing from a network of rhizomes. The gray-green leaves are each divided into a few lance-shaped lobes. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed ...

is a large, solitary flower with six white petals each long. At the center of the flower is a cluster of many yellow

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s. The fruit is a bristly capsule long containing many tiny seeds. It is distinguished from ''R. coulteri'' by its hairy sepals and smaller flowers and fruits. In the past the two species were placed in synonymy, but they are currently regarded as distinct by California botanists. It is named after Irish astronomer

John Thomas Romney Robinson John Thomas Romney Robinson FRS FRSE (23 April 1792 – 28 February 1882), usually referred to as Thomas Romney Robinson, was a 19th-century Irish astronomer and physicist. He was the longtime director of the Armagh Astronomical Observatory, ...

References

External links

Photo gallery
Papaveroideae Flora of Baja California Flora of California Garden plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Ranunculales-stub