It is the white flower associated with the heroine in The Mask of Zorro, is snow white Matilija poppy, Romneya coulteri. Few plants are as devilishly difficult to grow, or equally as tenacious once established. It has great bushy size to over 5 feet tall, and huge white flowers that resemble fried eggs that remain are unparalleled among California native flora.

Its natural range extends all along the California's southern mountain ranges where conditions are as hot and dry as that of the lower Sierra foothills. Today this poppy remains prevalent in Matilija Canyon, Ventura County, not far from the grounds of the old Spanish mission, Buenaventura.

A mission legend explains its unusual common name as that of a band of Chumash Indians named after their wise old chief Matilija who lost his daughter to Spanish raiders seeking laborers for the mission.

Thinking Matilija and her lover slain, she lived at the mission until discovering they were in hiding. That night she fled in darkness back to Ojai the place of the eagle, and found them in a sheltered canyon. But soon the soldiers returned to slaughter every one of them except Matilija's daughter who lay protected under the body of her lover. After the Spanish left she dragged his body up to the highest peak to nurse his wounds until he died. The story ends this way as told in 1909:

Years passed, and a stranger mounted the hill to gather the great white blossoms that crowned the crest. He found that they guarded the grave of two lovers. Kind nature had woven the choicest of shrouds about the young form of the brave Indian girl. The wealth of the blossoms enveloped the sleeper, and no irreverent hand dared to pluck them away, lest the fair soul reflected in the white poppy leaves should flee from the earth and leave barren the Ojai, the fair nest. So, even so, the footsteps of the stranger retreated and left Matilija's Poppy like sweet silent music to guard the flower-rimmed grave.

The story tells us of the plant's preference for high places where it is assured full sun, perfect drainage, minimal soil fertility and cool nights. They seem to grow best in sand, fast draining gravely soil like that of North Columbia.

Romneya's sensitive roots make it difficult to transplant, but once established it spreads aggressively underground. Such spreading is not successful in heavy clays where roots rot in the rainy season before they ever get started.

The seeds of Matilija poppy must be exposed to fire to germinate, so nurseries propagate by root cuttings. It's always best to purchase this, and other native perennials while the rootball is still small and easy to transplant.

You will probably have to special order it as plants do not grow well for long in containers. Choose a place with morning to midday sun and very quick drainage, or add coarse construction sand and organic matter to planters where you want this poppy to grow. Water deeply but infrequently the first summer to help with root development, but protect from hot summer north winds.

Matilija poppy is perhaps the most romantic of all California perennials. It will be a problem solver in poor soils that promises to become self sustaining if conditions are right. And like all poppies, enjoy its transient beauty, for none of them survive as cut flowers. Best of all, know it is a native that requires little to no care once established and will literally leap out at you under the wane light of the full moon. And perhaps amidst the flowers you will see the ghost of Matilija's daughter weeping over the grave of her slain lover.