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CALIFORNIA POPPY 
(Eschscholtzia Californica ) 
A German poet-naturalist, Adelbert von Chamisso, who 
visited the California coast about a century ago, was the first to 
describe this flower to the world. He gave it its formidable 
botanical name, primarily in honor of a fellow-scientist and 
secondarily in commemoration of the land of the flower’s 
nativity. 
The season of the California Poppy’s most abundant bloom 
is from January to May, but one need not be surprised to find the 
blossoms during any month of the year. 
The petals are either orange or a clear yellow, and occasion- 
ally are white—but always with a lovely satiny sheen which is 
the despair of painters. 
PRICKLY PHLOX 
(Gilia Californica) 
Set like wild roses in gipsy hair, the bright rose-pink 
blossoms of the Prickly Phlox grow amid the dark tangle of the 
chaparral in the late spring and early summer, and during their 
season are among the commonest of wild flowers in Southern 
California. 
A favorite habitat of the plant is on dry hills, whence 
another popular name for it is Mountain Pink. It is also abun- 
dant on those tracts of semi-desert which everywhere in the 
Land of Sunshine, lie close to the green borders of the irrigated 
country. 
The curious leaves of the Prickly Phlox, which are sharp 
and rigid like spines, are a formidable armor to the plant and 
make the flowers as difficult to gather as thistle blooms. 
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