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California Poppy (Hanabishisō)

The Plant

Also known as the golden poppy, California sunlight, or cup of gold, the California poppy (L. Eschscholzia californica), California's state flower since 1903, is originally native to the United States and Mexico. Since its discovery by western explorers, it has been introduced to and thrives in South America, Australia, and elsewhere around the world. Ironically, in southern California where it used to be very common, it is being replaced by invasive plants like mustard and annual grasses. Regardless, California poppies still thrive well in places like California's Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve.

California poppies are perennial herbaceous flowering plants that grow to as much as 2 feet tall and just as wide.

The leaves are generally blue-green in color. Look closely below, and you can see that there are three lobes per leaf, each finely divided.

It is hard to see in the photos above, but leaves often have red tips.

Poppy flower buds grow at the top of a stalk. Instead of being initially covered by a conventional calyx that opens up to release the blossom, California poppy blossoms are covered by cap-like fused sepals. The photo below shows the cap slipping off to reveal the flower underneath

California poppies bloom from February to September in the northern hemisphere. Blossoms have four petals, generally forming a cup-like shape. Colors range from red to orange to yellow with pink showing up on rare occasions, too. Orange blossoms in particular have a darker hue toward the center. Blossoms are light sensitive. They close up at night and sometimes during hazy days, too.

California poppies have both male and female organs. They are pollinated by bees and butterflies. Once pollinated, a seed pod begins to grow from an ovary at the bottom center of the blossom, the petals of which fall away. Pods grow up to 3.5 inches in length. The base at the top of the stalk on which the rest of the parts of the blossom sits is called a receptacle. It is what is at the bottom of the seed pod in the photo below.

Once mature, the seed pod bursts open with an audible pop, scattering the seeds of new plants.

Uses

California poppy leaves are edible when cooked, but take care to make sure they are the right species. Many closely related species are toxic. Its watery sap is mildly narcotic and has been used to relieve toothache. The whole plant can be used for medicinal purposes when dried, ground, and dissolved in water. It has a bitter taste, is a mild sedative, and acts as a diuretic, relieves pain, relaxes spasms, and promotes perspiration.

It is a widely held myth that the California poppy is a protected species. It is not illegal to pick as long as one has the permission of the owner of the land it is on. Unlike the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), California poppies are not addictive, not dangerous, and not banned for human consumption. That hasn't prevented some people from advocating for the eradication of California poppies based on the mistaken belief that opium can come from any plant with the word "poppy" in its name.

Artwork

California poppies were introduced to Japan in the mid 19th century, too late for many classical Japanese artists to use as painting subjects. Asian or opium poppies, however, had been imported from china at least a millennium earlier. All of the paintings shown below used Asian or opium poppies as subjects.

Tosa Mitsumochi (1496 – ca. 1559)

Mitsumochi was a painter of the Tosa school which focused on yamato-e, traditional Japanese style paintings and subjects favored by aristocrats. This was opposed to Kanō school paintings based on Chinese painting styles favored by the military classes. The byōbu below is attributed to Mitsumochi by an inscription by Ogata Kōrin (1658–1716) in the lower right corner. The style, however, closely resembles those developed in the early 17th century, so while Mitsumochi is tentatively recognized as the artist, considerable doubt exists. Note the family crests that decorate the lattice fence.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – 1849)

The kachō-ga (birds and flowers) print below, produced in the 1831 – 1832 time frame, is considered to be one of Hokusai's greatest masterpieces. The poppies, growing from the right, are bending away from a strong wind coming from the left.

Compare Hokusai's poppies print with his most famous ukiyo-e, The Great Wave. Can you see similarities in their compositions?

Utagawa Kunisada (1786 – 1865) & Utamaro Hiroshige (1797 – 1858)

The painting below is one of the prints in the Ten Flowers Currently in Full Bloom on the Edo Stage ukiyo-e series (1858). Prints in that kabuki series were collaborations between Kunisada (the actors and foreground) and Hiroshige (the background poppies). It is the only multi-artist ukiyo-e collaboration that I am aware of. The actors depicted are Ichikawa Ichizô III and Arashi Kangorô I. Logic suggests that the scene represents a specific kabuki play, but if so, I don't know which one it is.

Suzuki Kiitsu (1796 – 1858)

Kiitsu, a later Rinpa school artist, is best known for his byōbu folding screens; often copies of ones painted by earlier artists. Early Rinpa School poppy paintings were frequently inspired by Tosa School artists. Later Rinpa school artists like Kiitsu moved away from abstract representation and adhered more closely to detailed, naturalistic representations. Kiitsu makes liberal use of tarashikomi, an ink-mottling technique, in this hanging scroll.