Name of Eschscholzia: slightly off topic

Robert Werra robertwerra@sbcglobal.net
Mon, 07 Feb 2005 11:06:48 PST
Dear Jim; No;Yes;No. Opinion of one Californian. Bob
Werra

--- Jim McKenney <jimmckenney@starpower.net> wrote:

> There was a recent brief thread which touched on the
> theme of the desert in
> bloom. Awhile back I was given a copy of George
> Lepp's Golden Poppies of
> California: page after page of gorgeous photography,
> just the thing to
> assuage the chill of living amid snow fields and ice
> packs. 
> 
> Lepp's book however raises a minor question. All of
> my life I've called
> Eschscholzia californica 'California poppy'. But
> Lepp uses the name 'golden
> poppy' or 'California golden poppy' in  most of his
> text (the name
> 'California poppy' does appear a few times in his
> text, and more often in
> text he quotes from others). 
> 
> Evidently 'Golden Poppy' is the official name in the
> law which made it the
> State Flower of California in 1903. Curiously, the
> law cites the genus, but
> not the specific epithet. 
> 
> All of this raises questions. For instance, is
> 'Golden Poppy' the accepted
> vernacular name for Eschscholzia in the generic
> sense? Is the name
> California Poppy the accepted vernacular name for E.
> californica? I've
> never heard or seen the name Golden Poppy used for
> these plants: is this
> tradition extant?
> 
> What say the Californians?
> 
> This query is being posted separately to Alpine-L. 
> 
> Jim McKenney
> jimmckenney@starpower.net
> Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where
> it's about time to sow
> some poppies. 
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