In 1903, the poppy was officially named California’s state flower, winning by a significant margin thanks to the advocacy of Sarah Plummer Lemmon.
These flowers are famous for creating "super blooms," often occurring once every 10 years, according to a Facebook post by Hunter Sowards . During these times, the Antelope Valley California Poppy Preserve is covered in an intense orange blanket, as shown on Facebook.
Long before European explorers, Native American groups across California, such as the Nisenan, valued the plant, using it for food and medicine—treating everything from headaches to toothaches.
In the early 19th century, when Prussian explorer Adelbert von Chamisso docked in San Francisco Bay in 1816, he was struck by the hillsides blanketed in a "fiery golden glow," as described in a Facebook post by Nature Conservancy California . He gave the plant its scientific name, Eschscholzia californica , honoring his friend Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, a surgeon and entomologist on their ship.
The Spanish also named it dormidera , or "to fall asleep," referring to how the petals fold up in the evening or during cloudy weather, as explained in a article by Central Coast Parks .