State
Flower: Poppy
California Indians cherished the poppy as both a source of food
and for oil extracted from the plant. Its botanical name, Eschsholtzia
californica, was given by Adelbert Von Chamisso, a naturalist and
member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences, who dropped anchor in
San Francisco in 1816 in a bay surrounded by hills of the golden
flowers. Also sometimes known as the flame flower, la amapola, and
copa de oro (cup of gold), the poppy grows wild throughout California.
It became the state flower in 1903. Every year April 6 is California
Poppy Day, and Governor Wilson proclaimed May 13-18, 1996, Poppy
Week.