Thy satin vesture richer is than looms Of Orient weave for raiment of her Kings!

Not dyes of olden Tyre, not precious things

Regathered from the long forgotten tombs

Of buried empires, not the iris plumes That wave upon the tropics' myriad wings,

Not all proud Sheba's queenly offerings

Could match the golden marvel of thy bloom.

For thou are nurtured from the treasure veins

Of this fair land; thy golden rootlets sup

Her sands of gold-of gold thy petals spun.

Her golden glory, thou! On hills and plains,

Lifting, exultant, every kingly cup Brimmed with the golden vintage of the

sun."

-Ina D. Coolbrith.

Among the myriad wild blossoms that make gay every meadow, hill, and country roadside throughout Southern California it is a remarkable fact that the predominating colors are gold and purple-or blue. It seems appropriate that her flowers, in very truth her smiles, should in a measure reflect the gold of her sunshine, the heavenly blue of her sky. But of all the beautiful blossoms that spring into being from foothill to sea coast, clothing all the land in their wealth of vivid, brilliant coloring, there is none to challenge in popularity the golden poppy, Queen flower of them all.

In the early days when Western civ ilization was young, and towns were

few, and small, and far between, it was the gold of the poppy that lay along the foothills for leagues and leagues like a sea of gold, while sailors, miles out on the blue ocean looked across the tumbling blue waters to the distant horizon and thought they gazed upon a fire. Indeed, it was the Spanish sailors who termed California the land of fire, (La Terra del Fuego) and they said that the altar cloth of the good Saint Pasqual was spread upon the foothills and they oft times disembarked that they might worship on the shore.

The flood tide of this yellow sea comes in February, but from the time that the first yellow blossom bids good-bye to the late spring, the ragged little flower venders, both Mexican and American, throng the streets and cluster eagerly about the hotel entrances where each morning they find a ready market for their great sheaves of golden blossoms. No visitor to California feels his visit complete till he has sought the foothills or the mesas and reveled in the joy of wading into the yellow sea of bloom and picking poppies to his heart's content. And the scene is one long to be remembered! In the background the Sierra Madres rear their peaks, purple shadowed against a turquoise sky. In all directions from the roadside stretches the yellow sea of poppies, the gentle breeze from the ocean swaying gently the sensitive stems and delicate petals in an undulating ripple. Now and then a clump of blue gray eucalyptus trees, stately and tall, break the yellow monotony, adding strength to the picture by their deep shadows.

Because of their prolific growth, distinctive beauty and coloring, emblematic of the gold, the oranges and the sun

There are several varieties of poppies growing wild in the State, but the Eschscholtzia California is by far the most common. A noted German botanist, Adalbert von Chamisso, who arrived in San Francisco bay in 1816 on the good ship "Rurick" seeing these blossoms of gold for the first time, named them for his esteemed friend Dr. Eschscholz, who was also a member of this Russian exploring expedition. But the Spanish Californians gave to it long before that, a name musical in sound, poetic in meaning "Copa de Oro," (cup of gold),-and surely no more appropriate name could be found for the silken petaled blossom that raises aloft its golden chalice to catch the yellow sunshine.

Though growing throughout the State they are found in the greatest profusion in the San Joaquin and San Gabriel valleys where they cover many acres of ground with their vivid color.

The stems are from six to eighteen inches long, of a pale green, dusted with a soft grayish bloom. The flower has four petals of the texture of finest satin and two or three inches across. Over the tightly rolled buds is a green calyx peaked like a jester's cap, and when the bud is ready to bloom it bursts its bonds and the cap flies off with a pop. "She raises her head and cries, 'Blow off my emerald cap, good wind, And the yellow hair out of my eyes!""" The fern-like foliage is finely dissected and feathery. The corolla is strangely of a carmine tint and if closely examined it will be found that each tiny leaf particle is tipped with carmine too.

The poppy, the emblem of sleep and oblivion, is itself imbued with the same langourous spirit which it is supposed to exert over others, and the fields he bathed in their heritage of sleep, each golden cup half closed, each tiny bud tightly rolled, till the bright finger-tips of

open the sleep-heavy eyes of the poppy children. As the god of day seeks the western horizon the poppies again curl themselves up for their beauty sleep, while if the day be cloudy they only nod their heads and draw their satin mantles the tighter. There are many insects that crawl into the yellow cups and when the shadows lengthen and the satin petals are curled tight hide within their shining folds the little insect who is sheltered through the night time by as royal a coverlid as was ever spread over a sleeping king. Perhaps the spirit of the poppy breathes itself from out the silken folds, proving a potent sleeping draught for the willing prisoner!

When the chilling breath of the Ice King fills all the air and the cold touch of his great white hand lies heavy upon the snow bound East, the poppies of the Golden State are lifting their shining faces to the great warm sun who has called them into being. In January, sometimes even as early as Christmas, a few stray blossoms may be found, brightening some country roadside, the only gold to be picked up in the streets of California! But February and March are the months when all the landscape is splashed with vivid blotches of fire color. The poppies love the foothills best and creep close to the grand old mountains, lying along the uplands in one long, broad hand of gold.

The most common tint is a clear orange but in certain instances one finds a much more beautiful clump of blossoms, the edges of each petal for possibly a quarter of an inch being a light chromeyellow, blending into the deeper yellow of the petal. Occasionally a pale creamtinted blossom is found, but these are

rare.

The Indians of Placer County boil the herbage, or roast it on hot stones, afterward placing it in water, and eat it as greens. A harmless drug is also made of the plant, which is said to be an excellent remedy for insomnia and headache and is especially good for children. The Spanish Californians make of the plant a hair oil by frying it in olive oil or bear grease, and then adding per

fume. It makes the hair glossy, and is said to greatly induce and stimulate its growth. The San Luis Rey Indians chew the poppy leaves with gum.

Another poppy resembling the Eschscholtzia somewhat in the shape of its bloom is the tree poppy or Dendromeron Rigidium which grows on small trees or shrubs, from two to eight feet high. The leaves, which resemble closely those of the willow, are from one to three inches long and the flowers are from one to three inches across, containing four bright, chrome-yellow petals. The habitat of this variety of the poppy family is from San Diego to Butte County, although found in its greatest profusion in and about Santa Barbara. This is the only plant known to belong to the poppy family that possesses a woody fibre.

Still another variety is the wind poppy, or Blood Drop, which varies according to the locality in which it is found. The color varies from orange vermillion to flaming scarlet. In Central California the blood colored blossoms are fully two inches across while the stems are from one to two feet high. In the southern part of the State, however, the flowers are small and lie like flecks of blood color on the short grass, hence the name of blood drop. The petals are of a satiny texture, shading in the centre to a deep, rich maroon. From the group of slender stamens whose yellow anthers show brightly against the petals, rises the green, top-shaped ovary. The blossoms are most fragile and the silken petals fall almost as soon as touched, which would seem to place them in the "touch not, taste not, handle not" category, and reminds one of the words of Robbie Burns,

"But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, its bloom is shed."

These wind poppies seek the hillsides thriving best where there is shade, at least a part of the day, which is in sharp antithesis to the habits of the Eschscholtzia, its cousin, which depends upon the sun for its golden, full-blown beauty.

Last, but far from least, are the

Matilija poppies, whose great, golden hearts might well be likened to "apples of gold in pictures of silver." Romneya Coulteri is the name by which these beautiful blossoms are known upon the classic pages of the botanies, and they were named in honor of Dr. Romney Robinson, a famous astronomer, but because they are found in the greatest abundance in Matilija Canyon above Ventura, this musical name has clung to them. They are also known as the Mission Poppies and the Giant California white poppies.

The bushes grow from two to fifteen feet in height, and the petals, of which there are six, are from three to five inches long, while many of the blossoms are from six to nine inches in diameter. The round or occasionally pointed buds are closely wrapped in three overlapping, hairy sepals and usually, just as the sun rises out of the east, painting all the sky with rosy light, the buds throw off their fuzzy green mantles and unfold their great, crumpled, diaphanous petals, which resemble the finest white crepe. These flowers are found from Santa Barbara to San Diego and over the Mexi can border and are abundant near Riverside and also in certain portions of Lower California. The foliage is a graygreen and the branches of leaves and blossoms are especially effective for decoration where striking effects are desired. These queenly flowers are, however, of a retiring nature and seek the seclusion of the canyons, where they cover the precipitous sides in some places like a cascade of foam-flecked green water.

Of late years florists have cultivated these plants and many are finding their way into the most fastidiously kept gardens. Indeed, English gardeners regard them as priceless treasures, and persons interested in flower culture have been known to go great distances to behold the golden-hearted blossoms. When first opened they exhale a pleasant fragrance. The Indians esteem them hignly for their medicinal qualities. The seeds require an unusually long period of germination, it taking sometimes two years. Root cuttings are therefore preferred.