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State Flowers

State Flower of California

Flower: California Poppy (Eschscholtzia Californica)

The golden poppy, white poppy, and Mariposa lily were nominated as California’s state flower early in the century. The golden, or California Poppy won by a landslide and became the Golden State’s official flower on March 2, 1903.

Native Americans living in the Northern Sacramento Valley boiled and ate the feathery foliage. Spanish Californians and Indians made a hair dressing out of golden poppy oil. It is said that, during the Gold Rush, Indians believed the metal prospectors searched for fallen poppy petals.

The California poppy is a perennial and is one of the earliest wild flowers to grow in gardens.