Think you know California flowers? Take our poppy pop quiz
California is getting international attention for its superbloom this spring and the most celebrated wildflower has its own day, California Poppy Day, which is Saturday, April 6.
Poppy pop quiz
There are hundreds of species of poppies in the world, and California poppies are highly variable with many similar plants throughout the state. Here is a quick test of your knowledge of the popular plant.
1. Is it legal to pick California poppies?
Answer: No. California poppies are not threatened or endangered, but as the state flower it is illegal to pick them in the wild. It is legal buy seed and plant them.
2. Are California poppies other colors besides orange?
Answer: Yes. The orange poppy is the most commonly found, but flowers can also be pink, purple, yellow and cream. Some gardeners have created seed strains of an array of poppy colors. If left alone, the flowers will likely succumb to the dominant orange genes.
3. Are California poppies poisonous?
Answer: No. California Indians used the poppy as both a source of food and for oil extracted from the plant.
4. Eschscholzia californica, is the botanical name given by naturalist Adelbert Von Chamisso around 1816. What year did the poppy officially become the state flower —1850 or 1903?
Answer: 1903, It was selected as the state flower by the California State Floral Society in December 1890, beating out the Mariposa lily (Calochortus) and the Matilija poppy (Romneya coulteri). The state Legislature made it official in 1903.
Sara Plummer Lemmon
Lemmon was a botanical illustrator, serving as the official artist for the California State Board of Forestry from 1888–1892. She was instrumental in making the golden poppy California’s state flower.
Popular impostor
Another common poppy that is often mistaken for Eschscholzia californica is Eschscholzia lobbii, known by the common name frying pans.
Frying pans are smaller than the California poppy. The plants are 4 to 8 inches tall and the flowers are 1.5 cm to 2.5 cm diameter
California poppies have 1- to 2-foot stems and are 1 to 3 inches wide.
State grass
Purple Needlegrass, Stipa pulchra
The official state grass was designated in 2004. Purple needlegrass is a bunchgrass adapted to clay soils. Its growing range is from the Oregon border into northern Baja California.
Its seeds were used by many California Native American communities as a food source. It was widely used by California wildlife and grazing cattle. When green, livestock will eat it, but once it dries it becomes prickly and animals tend to avoid it. Its abundance has decreased due to invasive competition.
Purple needlegrass is heat and drought tolerant and can live more than 150 years. It is often planted for use in habitat restoration, erosion, and levee control.
State nut
California is so nuts for nuts there are not one but four state nuts. The official state nuts are almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and pecans. The State Library claims California grows the following:
- 80 percent of all almonds eaten in the world.
- 99 percent of the commercial walnuts in the United States (and 75 percent of the world’s supply).
- 98 percent of the pistachios in the United States.
- Pecans are native to the United States, but their production in California is much lower than other nuts. The first commercial orchard in California was established in the mid 1970s.
State lichen
After years of encouragement by the California State Lichen Society, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill designating lace lichen the California Sate Lichen in 2015. California is the first state to designate a state lichen. Lace lichen is native to the Pacific Coast from southeast Alaska to Baja California. It is formed from a partnership between algae and fungus.
Lace lichen hangs from trees and shrubs in netlike strands several feet long.It is susceptible to air pollution.
Animals use it for food and nesting material.
Sources: California State Library, The Nature Niche, UC Davis, US Forest Service , The California Lichen Society, California Native Plant Society