Talk:California poppy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 California poppy is within the scope of WikiProject Plants, an attempt to better organize information in articles related to plants and botany. For more information, visit the project page.
Start This article has been rated as Start-class on the quality scale.
Mid This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the importance scale.
WikiProject California This article is part of WikiProject California, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to California on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, you can edit this article, or visit the project page to join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.

Every other source I've read says the California Poppy became California's state flower in 1903. (http://www.library.ca.gov/history/cahinsig.cfm, http://www.50states.com/flower/california.htm, http://www.50states.com/flower/california.htm ) Does anybody know where 1890 came from? And I agree with the Loren's comment. The family name I've always seen is Papaveraceae.

I clarified the dates.--Curtis Clark 19:22, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Why isn't this at California poppy? RickK

Dunno. It was that way before I got to it and I'm too lazy to fix it right now. Also, I'm pretty sure the family name is Papaveraceae -- so far as I know that eae ending is pretty conventional for family names. I think the ous ending is for the adjectival form. -- Loren

Question about poppy seeds used in salads and on baked goods: I know P. somniferum seeds are used most often for this - are California poppy seeds ever used?? -- Marj 20:00, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

We propose to expand information about the California poppy, as well as note its invasive qualities on other continents. Can anyone contribute information about other regions where the California poppy is seen as invasive? We will post changes and add to the List of Invasive Species page on Dec. 9, 2005.--PBG250 23:52, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

We added new information and incorporated what was up there, just changed the structure around to make the article flow better.--PBG250 00:34, 10 December 2005 (UTC)
I don't have any direct information, since I live in its native range, but it is my understanding from colleagues that it is invasive in parts of Australia (Adelaide?) and that it is an agricultural weed in Chile (although perhaps not invasive into intact natural systems). I'm very interested in what people have to contribute.--Curtis Clark 05:10, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Song

Just out of curiosity, what's with the song on this page? The song doesn't mention the phrase "California poppy" (there are other "golden" poppies), and the song itself seems to me to be rather obscure (it was published in 1902). Is the song famous enough in most circles (maybe other generations?) that it doesn't merit an intro/explanation? Personally, I don't see it adding to my understanding of the California poppy, so maybe it could get its own page, with a sentence linking to that page sufficing for this article. --NoahElhardt 02:11, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree about the irrelevance, and can't be that famous if I haven't heard of it. :-) I'd say move it to talk page, for the benefit of the few lost souls who read talk pages for fun... Stan 02:31, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
As far as I can tell, the song only exists in the E. E. Smith book, which is explicitly about the California poppy. I first saw the book at the UC Davis library, where I copied it in its entirety (my dissertation was about Eschscholzia), and many years later I was able to obtain a copy through Abebooks.com. It's a very interesting book as a snapshot of the role that the poppy played in California at that time, but it is almost never cited, so it evidently had little effect.
I reprint the song on http://www.csupomona.edu/~jcclark/poppy/odds.html, along with another song that was evidently very widely used at one time (I've heard about it from at least five different people). If any song should be included, it should be this one.--Curtis Clark 03:57, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the info. Notwithstanding, these lyrics seem out of place in this article. If you'd like to create a section about "California poppy in popular culture", you could work it in there. (Personally, I would prefer a sentence linking to a seperate page for the song even in this case, but its up to you). Otherwise, I would just remove it. I'll let you make the call. --NoahElhardt 04:23, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
As an example of the poppy's significance in Californian culture, excerpts from the song make sense (for instance, is the opening and closing of the flowers a metaphor?), but without any explanation, it's not clear whether it was an expression of public attitude/awareness, or just a fluke (songwriter was desperate for ideas, and happened to notice a bloom outside the window :-) ). In any case, I just remembered that we *do* have a good home for complete song lyrics - Wikisource, which has a whole category of them. Both songs could go there and be linked to from here. BTW, shouldn't a dissertation on Eschscholzia be in the references here?? Stan 12:09, 1 September 2006 (UTC)
Or better, the journal articles that it spawned. There's a bibliography on my web page [1] that is listed as a reference. At some point, I'll figure out which individual papers support different parts of the article, and put in a proper bibliography.--Curtis Clark 14:00, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Introduced?

So the section on its range states that the poppy is native as far north as "southern Washington", but it is very widespread on southern Vancouver Island (B.C.). Does anyone know if this is an introduced population or not?Djp2.0 23:07, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

It also occurs around Sequim in the Puget Sound area. The dry sides of the ranges in both regions are currently good habitat, but I don't know enough about the region to know what the vegetation was historically. It wouldn't surprise me for the populations on Vancouver Island to be persistent garden escapes. One good measure of whether a population in California is native or a garden escape is seed dormancy: strong in the former and basically absent in the latter. I would expect strong dormancy in other native populations as well.--Curtis Clark 03:29, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

zone?70.51.206.19 03:11, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] poison

is it poisonous?T ALK•QRC2006•¢ʘñ†®¡ß§ 01:03, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Not especially. It's rather unpalatable, however.--Curtis Clark 04:35, 12 April 2007 (UTC)