Romneya Coulteri

Photographs

My photos:

These plants were growing in masses in the hot sunny part of the Trabuco Wash. This one was in a partly shaded area. The photo below, of an immature plant, shows the leaves to good effect.

More photos:

Calflora has great photos of the flower bud, and close ups of the flower.

click photo to enlarge

Plant Information

Papaveraceae

In the garden:

Matilija poppy is a glabrous, shrubby perennial, heavy branched and woody at the base, growing to 8' tall. The fragrant, showy white flowers, 5 - 8 per stem, are the largest of any plant native to California. The six petals are usually crinkled with many yellow stamens and a single large pistil. The leaves are alternate and have 3-5 main segments which are somewhat dentate or cleft. The leaves are grey-green in color, as are the stems, but tend towards a bluish-green if growing within shaded areas. When broken, the whole plant weeps a clear to yellowish sap. The flowers mature into 1 ½ inch long pods filled with small, grey-brown seeds.

You will lose none in sand near the coast, but 2 of 3 in interior adobe will die. They will grow in red clay that is almost waterlogged in winter, dry as Death Valley in summer. In sandy soils they can grow under your house and come out the other side, under driveways, or consume your entire yard. It spreads by rhizomes. Water well when planted, then once per week or so though first summer. They should take off by the next spring. When they do, stop watering. No amending or fertilizer is necessary. To encourage flower-bearing branches measuring four to six feet, cut the plant back to the ground each winter.

In the wild:

Matilija poppy inhabits dry washes and canyons below 4000' in coastal sage scrub and chaparral away from the immediate coast. It is common in the Santa Ana Mts to San Diego Co., being found also in the Santa Monica Mts where it was probably begun by transplanting. It blooms from May to July.

R. coulteri has smaller flowers and is a larger plant than R. trychocalyx, which is native to the coastal ranges north of Los Angeles. Another difference is that R. coulteri's three sepals are glabrous, whereas R. trichocalyx which has bristly or appressed-hairy sepals.

Ethnobotany:

The name Matilija appears to be of Chumash origin. The sap from the stalk was used as a beverage by the Cahuilla. There is information on line about how to use it medicinally, but I have not evaluated it.

"The Matilija Poppy must be conceded the queen of all flowers," wrote Mary Elizabeth Parsons in her 1897 book, The Wild Flowers of California.

Romneya Coulteri (Matilija Poppy)