Popular Studies of California Wild Flozvers 21 



The Golden Poppy State Flower 

 Eschscholzia calif ornica Cham. 



By Bertha M. Rice 



/ The Golden Poppy was officially adopted as the State Flower 

 by the California Legislature in 1903. Long previous to that date 

 it had been unanimously aeclaimed the floral emblem of the Com- 

 monwealth. A more appropriate choice could hardly have been 

 made; for this wonderful glowing poppy symbolizes in a strange 

 and striking manner the Golden State its golden traditions, its 

 golden flower fields and its sunny clime. And then also the flower 

 was born on these shores and it may always be found blooming in 

 some portion of the State on any day throughout the year. 



In early days thousands upon thousands of acres of these 

 matchless, shimmering "fire-flowers," as certain tribes of Indians 

 called them, were massed at the feet of Mt. Wilson and Mt. Lowe. 

 Their brilliant gleaming could be distinguished far out at sea, a 

 certain indication that the mariner was opposite the mission land- 

 ings. The term "Cape Las Flores" as applied to these wild poppy 

 fields by the Spanish mariners is said to have originated with 

 Cabrillo's sailors in 154:2. But there is no real authority for this 

 statement. 



The flower is at its brilliant best from February until June, and 

 a field of these burnished blossoms shimmering in the sunlight, 

 billowing gracefully with every vagrant breeze that blows, forms 

 a picture that beggars description and one that haunts the memory 

 ever afterward with visions of golden glory. 



No blossom of later days has been so sung, or painted, de- 

 scribed or written about, or is so rich in historic incident as the 

 Golden Poppy. But it is yet unrhymed to the satisfaction of poets, 

 and no painter can ever hope to catch the tender, elusive sheen of 

 its satiny petals. 



Some botanists claim that there are more than one hundred 

 varieties of the California Poppy in this State, and then it has a 

 host of attractive relatives ; but the Golden Poppy varies greatly 

 in size and color, its blossoms being paler or richer and smaller or 

 larger according to the season or the locality in which it grows. Of 

 the many species and sub-species of this plant as described by cer- 

 tain botanists, ten species and marked varieties, including the most 

 numerous and showy plants, are to be found only in California^ 

 Two species are on the coast islands; two others are mostly in this 

 State, but extend northward into Washington, and one of them to 

 the banks of the Colorado River; two others are in California and 

 extend southward to Arizona, and but one species is found in Utah ; 

 and southward to northern Mexico, wholly without the confines of 

 California. The most radical of scientists, as well as those of the 

 very conservative school, agree that it is eminently proper and 

 fitting to call the Eschscholzia the California Poppy. To be fully 

 appreciated, the flower must be seen growing on its native heath. 



