POPPY FAMILY 227 



A genus of about 12 species, natives of western North America. Type species, Eschscholzia californica 

 Cham The original spelling Eschscholzia instead of Eschscholtzia has been retained in conformity with the 

 International Rules, and has been done so under the advice of the American representative of the international 

 committee. 



Torus with two rims, the inner erect and hyaline, the outer spreading; seeds reticulate; cotyledons 2-cleft; 



perennials or sometimes annuals. L E- calif ornica. 



Torus with only an erect hyaline rim, the outer rim absent or rudimentary; cotyledons entire; annuals. 

 Stems leafy or sometimes scapose; seeds reticulate or sometimes nearly smooth. 

 Herbage glabrous or sparsely puberulent. 

 Petals 10-25 mm. long. 



Leaves not conspicuously glaucous; stem usually scapose. 2. E. caespitosa. 



Leaves conspicuously glaucous; stems leafy. 3. E. elegans. 



Petals 3-5 mm. long, rarely longer. 4. E. minutiflora. 



Herbage canescent with short curved hairs. 5. E. Lcmmonii. 

 Stems scapose; seeds muricate or deeply pitted, not reticulate. 



Leaf divisions short and crowded; seeds rather remotely pitted. 6. E. glyptosperma. 



Leaf divisions few and elongated; seeds muricate. 7. E. Lobbii. 



1. Eschscholzia calif ornica Cham. California Poppy. Fig, 1391. 



Eschscholzia californica Cham, in Nees, Hor. Phys. Ber. 73. pi. 15. 1920. 



Stems branching, decumbent or ascending from a thick branching taproot, leafy or scapose, 

 2-5 dm. high. Leaves ternately decompound, the segments linear or oblong, glabrous and 

 slightly glaucous, rarely sparingly puberulent; peduncles 5-15 cm. long; calyptra variable in 

 size and shape, 1-4 cm. long ; petals fan-shaped, 5 cm. long or less, orange varying to yellow ; 

 outer rim of receptacle spreading, 2-4 mm. wide ; seeds reticulate ; cotyledons 2-cleft. 



The California Poppy exhibits wide variation in habit and floral characters. Some of these are ecological 

 but others are inherent. In either case it is doubtful if they are of sufficient import to warrant taxonomic 

 recognition. Almost as marked seasonal variation may occur in the same plant as is found in many of the 

 segregates which have been proposed by Greene and Fedde, which total approximately 100. 



The original collections of Chamisso and Eschscholtz were made at San Francisco and, as Chamisso's 

 description and colored plate clearly show, were the glaucous yellow-flowered plants found along the coast. 



Sand dunes and bluffs along the California coast from Mendocino County to the southern part of the 

 state. Feb.-Sept. 



The following species proposed by Greene, although showing considerable variation, are referable to this 

 typical form: comuta, cucullata, glauca, maritima, Menziesiana. 



Eschscholzia californica var. crocea (Benth.) Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Calif. 207. 1901. Perennial from a 

 stout taproot, the older plants often having a branched crown. Vernal specimens with large flowers; calyptra 

 usually tapering to a long beak; petals deep orange or sometimes yellow, often 4-6 cm. long; outer rim of 

 torus broad. Aestival plants with leafy often decumbent branches and paler foliage; flowers smaller; calyptra 

 often abruptly short-beaked; petals yellow, 2-4 cm. long; outer rim of receptacle narrow. Grassy hillsides and 

 valleys, usually in a loam soil, Transition and Upper Sonoran Zones; Columbia River, Washington, to northern 

 Lower California. Extremely variable in foliage and flowers, and numerous segregates have been proposed. 

 Along the coast it merges into the typical species, and often on high exposed rocky ridges simulates it. 



Eschscholzia californica var. peninsularis (Greene) Munz, Man. S. Calif. 181. 1935. Annual with a 

 rather slender, somewhat fleshy taproot, cespitose or with leafy branches; flowers much as in the preceding 

 variety. Valleys and hillsides, usually in sandy soil; San Joaquin Valley to Lower California. Extremely 

 variable, and possibly only an ecological phase of the preceding. Many segregates of these annual plants 

 were proposed by Greene, the earliest being E. peninsularis Greene. 



2. Eschscholzia caespitosa Benth. Tufted Eschscholzia. Fig. 1892. 



Eschscholzia caespitosa Benth. Trans. Hort. Soc. Lond. II. 1: 408. 1835. 



Eschscholzia tenuifolia Benth. loc. cit. 



Eschscholzia rhombipetala Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. 1: 71. 1885. 



Stems usually scapose, branching at the base from a tuft of leaves, 1-2 dm. high. Leaves 

 dissected into numerous narrow divisions, glabrous and somewhat glaucous or sparingly his- 

 pidulous ; torus narrowly turbinate, without a spreading outer rim ; calyptra ovoid-elliptic, 

 apiculate ; petals yellow, 1-2 cm. long ; seeds reticulate or almost smooth, longer than broad, 

 abruptly acute. 



Foothills and valleys, Upper Sonoran Zone; Inner Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada foothills of northern 

 and central California. Type locality: first collected by Douglas, somewhere in the California Coast Ranges. 

 April-May. 



Eschscholzia caespitosa var. hypecoides (Benth.) Gray, Proc. Amer. Acad. 22: 272. 1887. Stems leafy, 

 1-4 dm. high, slender and more or less branched; torus turbinate without outer rim; seeds faintly reticulate. 

 Foothills of the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges from northern to southern California. 



3. Eschscholzia elegans Greene. Island Eschscholzia. Fig. 1893. 



Eschscholzia elegans Greene, Bull. Calif. Acad. 1: 182. 1885. 



Eschscholzia ramosa Greene, Bull. Torrey Club 13:217. 1886. 



Eschscholzia Wrigleyana Millsp. & Nutt. Field Mus. Bot. Ser. 5: 109. pi. 1. 1923. 



Annual with stout leafy stems, branching above the base, 2-4 dm. high, glabrous. Leaves 

 ample, very finely dissected, glaucous and glabrous or sparingly scabrous ; torus broadly tur- 

 binate, without the spreading outer rim ; calyptra ovoid, rounded or obtuse at the apex with a 

 very short apiculation ; petals yellow, often with orange base, 1-2 cm. long ; seeds reticulate. 



Open fields and borders of chaparral, Upper Sonoran Zone; Channel Islands from Santa Rosa to San 

 Clemente, California; also Guadalupe Island, Lower California. Type locality: Guadalupe Island. March- 

 June. 



