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Eschscholzia californica (Papaveraceae)

With a few others, the two Williams, Faulkner and Saroyan, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain and more recently, Barry Lopez, Phyllys Rose, James Salter, John Steinbeck top the list of my favorite American writers.

Here is what Steinbeck wrote about these, truly lovely, flowers:

‘of a burning color—not orange, not gold, but if pure gold were liquid and could raise a cream, that golden cream might be like the color of poppies.”

You have recognized, of course, California poppies.
That endearing and memorable color stems from carotenoid pigments in the petals — more below. The plant is native,to the entire state of California, and some, from the Columbia River in Northern Oregon to Baja California. The plant is a perennial, growing to between 13 and 30 cm (5-12 in), with alternately branching blue-green foliage. There are four petals, 2-6
cm (0.8-2.4 in) in length, of that lovely color, and they close at night. They are arranged in two concentric whorls.

It was designated State Flower of California in 1903.

A most intriguing feature has been identified as the source of the gorgeous color and silky appearance of the petals in the Calfornia poppy. The unusual silky effect of E. californica is produced by ‘the intense angle-dependent reflectivity from the deeply ridged petal epidermal cells, as well as the focusing effect of the prism-shaped ridges.The elongated petal epidermal cells each possess a densely thickened prism-like ridge that is composed
primarily of cell wall. The surface ridges strongly focus incident light onto the pigments, which are located in plastids at the cell base.’ This language refers to the adaxial (parallel to the axis of the flowers) surface of the petals. Upon microscopic inspection, it shows parallel ridges. This optical system focuses light strongly onto the pigment-containing region, hence the enhanced attractiveness!

Published inPlants