Matilija poppy

American  

[muh-til-uh-hah] / məˈtɪl əˌhɑ /

noun

1. a tree poppy, Romneya coulteri, of California and Mexico, having thin, paperlike leaves and large, solitary, white flowers.

---

Etymology

Origin of Matilija poppy

1900–05, after the Matilija Canyon, Ventura County, California

Example Sentences

To this day Average Jones remembers the luminous grace and splendor of a Matilija poppy, which, rooted between two boulders, swayed gently in the white moonlight above a figure of dread.

From Average Jones by Adams, Samuel Hopkins

The thistle-poppy would be considered in any other country a surpassingly beautiful flower, with its large diaphanous white petals and its thistly gray-green foliage, but in California it must yield precedence to the Matilija poppy.

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth