FLOWERS 65 



ways mentioned the "Golden Poppy." "Copo de 

 Oro" the early Spanish settlers called them and cups 

 of gold they are! More brilliantly colored, more 

 satiny lovely, than any golden cup! The Indians 

 thought the falling of the petals made the gold in 

 our soil. 



A poppy bed ten miles square has been seen from 

 a distance of forty miles as a sheet of yellow and 

 another of orange red from an equal distance. The 

 color varies from white to almost red; in the moun- 

 tains at two or three thousand feet they are a pale 

 yellow. The poppy is so plentiful almost the year 

 round, so dependable in its habits and dramatic in 

 its opening, it is a good flower to experiment with. 

 The buds hanging slightly pendent straighten up- 

 right. The stem grows noticeably just before open- 

 ing on a normal, sunny morning at 9 o'clock. The 

 sepals enclosing the bud, split at the lower end and 

 then like a peaked cap are pushed upward by the 

 expanding petals, finally popping off with consider- 

 able force, perhaps into the air a couple of inches, 

 the released petals opening wide in a very few min- 

 utes. They close about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, 

 opening again a little wider the second day, closing 

 on schedule, and the third day are fully open. The 

 petals wave back and forth gently as in a gesture of 

 farewell and fall the fourth day, while the pistil 



