California Poppy 



The well-known and best-loved California 

 flower is the yellow poppy. It grows in every 

 valley and on every plain,spreading over them 

 its gold-red mantle. Near Los Angeles are 

 fields of pgppies which are visited by hun- 

 dreds of tourists and they consider it a great 

 pleasure to gather a handful of these gold- 

 en cups. The Indians boil this plant and eat 

 it. A drug is made from the poppy which 

 is said to cure headache and insomnia. 



The golden poppy is God's gold, 

 The gold that lifts nor weighs us down, 

 The gold that knows no miser's hold. 

 The gold that banks not in the town. 

 But singing, laughing, freely spills 

 Its hoard far up the happy hills. 



, Joaquin Miller 



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