'^ A DREAM OF NEW POPPIES 143 



others, even more lovely, are crimson (or royal 

 purple) with dark plum-colored centers. The 

 ring of grayish-green pollen adds much to their 

 beauty. These poppies should be more widely 

 known. Mine were suddenly struck by blight 

 last year, but spraying with pyrox saved 

 them. 



The hideous name Eschscholtzia, given to the 

 exquisite California poppy, excites my wrath 

 almost as much as the name Rainier, still be- 

 stowed on our glorious Mount Tacoma. Rainier 

 was an enemy admiral who fought the forces of 

 George Washington, and for this sublime act we 

 still honor him by giving his name to our 

 sublimest snow peak, with the connivance of 

 that ludicrous and entirely superfluous body, the 

 Society of Geographic Names in Washington 

 city, although both branches of the Legislature 

 in Washington state, where this mountain is 

 located — the old Indian name is Tacoma, or 

 Tahoma — by a large majority begged that 

 society to give up the name Rainier, which, 

 under the circumstances, is worse than a joke. 

 Equally maltreated is the California poppy. 

 Eschscholtz was the surgeon of a Russian ship 

 which explored the Western coast in 1815. 



It is high time for California to find a more 

 musical and appropriate name for its state 

 flower, especially now that Luther Burbank has 

 transformed some of these golden cups, which 

 adorn the foothills by the billions in spring, into 



