CALIFORNIA POPPY (Eschscholtzia calif ornica, Cham.). 

 Flowers 2 to 3 inches across, deep orange or yellow, sometimes 

 white, the plant a foot or so high with smooth glaucous leaves 

 much and finely dissected, and a bitter juice. The most fa- 

 mous of all Pacific Coast wild flowers, abundant throughout 

 California, and to some extent in Oregon and Washington. 

 It may be found in bloom in every month of the year, but it is 

 from February until June or July that its really rich display 

 is staged. It occurs both as an annual and as a perennial, 

 and is California's State flower. 



The California Poppy was first made knowni to the world 

 by Adalbert von Chamisso, poet and botanist, who was a mem- 

 ber of the Kotzebue scientific expedition, which visited San 

 Francisco Bay in October, 1816. This flower was then col- 

 lected and given its rather formidable looking, though easily 

 pronounced name in honor of Doctor Eschscholtz, another 

 naturalist of the party. Spanish-Calif ornians know it under 

 various Spanish names, as torosa, toronja, and prettiest of all, 

 dormidera, "the drowsy one," because its petals fold them- 

 selves to sleep at eventide. 



