About Romneya trichocalyx Eastw.
Romneya trichocalyx Eastw., commonly called the bristly Matilija poppy or hairy Matilija poppy, is a species of flowering plant in the poppy family. It is native to San Diego, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties in the U.S. state of California, as well as Baja California, Mexico. In this range, it grows in dry canyons within chaparral and coastal sage scrub plant communities. Like its close relative Romneya coulteri, R. trichocalyx is grown as an ornamental plant, cultivated for its large, showy flowers. This species is a shrub that grows 1 to 2.5 metres (3 feet 3 inches to 8 feet 2 inches) tall, spreading from a network of rhizomes. Its leaves are gray-green, with each leaf divided into a small number of lance-shaped lobes. The inflorescence is a large, solitary flower that holds six white petals, each 4–8 centimetres (1.6–3.1 inches) long. At the center of the flower sits a cluster of numerous yellow stamens. After flowering, it produces a bristly capsule fruit that is 2.5–3.5 centimetres (0.98–1.38 inches) long, and holds many tiny seeds. R. trichocalyx differs from R. coulteri by its hairy sepals and its smaller flowers and fruits. In the past, these two species were treated as synonyms of one another, but California botanists currently classify them as two distinct species. The genus Romneya is named after Irish astronomer John Thomas Romney Robinson.
