California Poppy
Eschecholzia californica
The California Poppy is famous for its bright orange flowers, which brighten open spaces across the state. The silky flowers have four bright orange (or yellow in SoCal especially) petals 2-6 cm long and broad. Each flower rests atop a single, long stalk. The petals close at night or in sustained cold winds and open again in the morning, or when cloudy weather has passed. The plant’s lacy leaves are divided into deeply rounded lobes, which are waxy and pale blue-green. The plant can grow anywhere from 5-60 cm tall depending on conditions.
Basic Information
Member of the Papaveraceae, or poppy, family
This plant perennial herb in mild parts of its native range, and annual in harsher climates
Habitat
Native to the western United States throughout California, extending to Oregon, southern Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and in Mexico in Sonora and northwest Baja California
Most commonly found in open, grassy places like meadows, but this wildflower isn’t shy and will just as easily bloom in a highway intersection
Found in elevation between sea level up to 2,000 meters (6,500 feet)
Ecological Role
Rabbits and other small herbivores eat this plant, but it quickly recovers
attracts a variety of bees, particularly bumble bees, honey bees and sweat bees, as well as butterflies, which are attracted to the poppy nectar
Birds eat the seeds
Reproduction
Blooms from February to September
Reproduces by self seeding
The fruit is a slender capsule 3-9 centimeters long, which splits to release the numerous small dark seeds
Pollinated mainly by beetles
Alternative Names
California Goldenpoppy, California sunlight, cup of gold
Historical Uses
California Native Americans widely used the leaves for toothaches
The Native Americans living in the Mendocino area, known as the Mendocino Indians, used the root juice medicinally for headaches, suppurating sores, stomach aches, and as an emetic
The root was used for the stupefying effect
The Ohlone laid the flowers underneath children’s beds to put them to sleep and rubbed a decoction of the flowers into hair to kill lice
The Cahuilla used the plant as a sedative for babies
The pollen was used by women as a facial cosmetic
The Mahuna and Ohlone considered the plant poisonous and urged pregnant women in particular to avoid it, possibly because it was known to be used to stop lactating mother’s milk flow
The Kashaya Pomo and other Native Americans living in the Mendocino area used the mashed seed pod rubbed on a nursing mother's breast to dry up her milk
The leaves were eaten raw or boiled by a number of tribes, including the Luiseno, Neeshenam, and other Native Americans living in the Mendocino area
The Luiseno chewed the flowers with chewing gum
Additional Information
The California poppy was made the state flower because its golden blooms were deemed a fitting symbol for the Golden State. It beat out the Mariposa lily and the Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri).
There is some evidence (though not concrete) that the CA poppy has sedative properties, which can be used to control anxiety and relieve muscle cramps and toothaches
The CA poppy is nyctinastic, meaning that at night, or in cloudy weather, the flower petals close to protect the pollen
California poppies are typically orange, but I once found a mutant poppy that was light pink in color — look at the last photo in the gallery for proof!
