Since 1903, this flower has been the official state flower of California (the “Golden State”). To flower taxonomists, this flower is referred to as Eschcholzia californica. It is native to western North America. This flower occurs also in southern Washington, western Oregon, and northwest Baja California Mexico. There are a few subspecies; some of which live in Texas and south throughout Mexico.
The poppy’s flowers lack nectar but are rich in pollen; thus this plant is very attractive to bees. The flowers can be orange, yellow, ivory, or almost red. By the way, contrary to public opinion, the poppy flower does not contain opium.
Poppy flowers become partly closed on cloudy days. They prefer full sun, but are phototropic (i.e., close at night). This flower is easy to grow and is drought tolerant.
Classification:
Kingdom Plantae
3 Clades (see Wikipedia for the names)
Order Ranuculales
Family Papaveraceae
Genus Eschzcholzia
Species californica
Note: It is against the law to take California poppy flowers from public land. The same goes for private property, unless you have permission from the property owner.
This plant is a short-lived perennial although they do reseed themselves for the next year. Poppies can function as short-lived (one year) annuals in colder areas.
Figure 1. Four poppy flowers in our garden (these poppies “came with” from seeds mixed in with a purchased Borago [see one of my earlier posts on flower plants). Diameter of each poppy flower is about 1.5 inches.
Figure 2. Close-up of one of the poppy flowers shown above.
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