6 4 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



JMATILIJA POPPY (ROMNEYA COULTERIA) 



Photograph by Geo. G. McLean, Carpinteria, 

 California. 



It has been a Chinese faith that it 

 is lncky "to smell poppies three times 

 a day."" 



All poppies science has called "es- 

 capes," "sports," save the California 

 poppies, of which flower no land has 

 greater wealth. 



Santa Barbara County alone pro- 

 duces seven kinds. They range 

 in c o 1 o r from the deep red of 

 the exquisite Meconopsis or "drops of 

 blood," to the white of the "thistle 

 poppy," and the magnificent snowy 

 queen Matilija; and run through the 

 gamut of gold in the "free poppy" and 

 L apa de ora, California's pride and 

 statehood flower. 



It is said that when Father Guni- 

 pero Serra first beheld this flower, he 

 exclaimed, "At last I have found the 

 Holy Grail!" 



Our flower of golden fame owes to 

 Russia its scientific name so bristling 

 with consonants. Early in the past 

 century a Russian nobleman fitted out 

 a vessel to voyage around the world 

 in the interests of science. Adelbert 

 Von Chamisso sailed as naturalist, and 

 Eschscholtz as scientist. Their ship, 

 Ruric, entered San Francisco Bay at 

 the time when this poppy was lighting 

 the land with its glory, and Chamisso 

 gallantly gave to it the name of his 

 friend, and Bschscholtaia science still 

 calls the flower, though to the com- 

 mon people it is the "cup of gold" or 

 the golden poppy. 



One who has never seen these pop- 

 pies in their season in California, can 

 hardly imagine their abundance and 

 their glory. For every silver drop that 

 falls during California's rainy season, 

 the grateful earth pays back in gold ; 



A FIELD OF POPPIES. 



