The California State Flower

The California state flower is the beautiful golden poppy. Visitors are always asking me, what is the official state flower of California?

So I decided to write a page about California's state flower with some nice pictures of the California poppies that grow wild in California during the months of April and May.

So if you are visiting Southern California at this time of year, take a ride out toward Lancaster and enjoy the spectacular California poppy flower show.

The California Indians loved and cherished the poppy. They used it for food and also for it's oil that they extracted from the poppy plants.

The botanical name is Eschsholzia Californica, and it was named by Adelbert Von Chamisso, a naturalist.

He arrived by boat in San Francisco in 1816, during the time of the year when the surrounding hills where a glow with these poppies.

The flower is also known as the flame flower, la amapola, and copa do oro ( meaning cup of gold). The poppies grow wild throughout the state of California.

It became the official state flower in 1903. April 6, each year is California Poppy Day, and in 1996, the then Governor Wilson, declared May 13-18 Poppy Week.

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