California Colonies
California Poppy Colony
Our Colony meets in Pasadena, CA in the months of June and October.
The California Poppy Colony was organized May 16, 1977
Please send prospective member inquires to our Colony President.
The Spaniards were in awe of its beauty and called it “copa de oro,” or cup of gold. The Indians used it as food and a Prussian naturalist named it “Eschscholzia California.” But the delicate, tissue petal flower is best known as the Golden Poppy or California Poppy.
Early legend say sailors used a poppy-covered Pasadena hillside as a landmark because its golden hue was easily spotted for miles out at sea. The showy profusion of golden poppies led our first Spanish explorers to call the Pacific Coast “land of fire.”
It was California Indians who recognized the poppy not only as a lovely flower, but also as an important natural resource. They boiled the plant’s stalks and stems for food, extracted its oil to groom their hair and used the stem’s numbing milky substance to ease toothache pain. When the California gold rush began, the Indians credited their beautiful plant with producing the treasured golden nuggets.
In 1815, Adelbert von Chamisso, a Prussian naturalist, was part of a scientific expedition sailing around the world. When they reached the port of San Francisco. They marveled at the sight of golden poppies sweeping the steep city’s hills. So enraptured by the sight was von Chamisso, that he had them recognized botanically by naming them after his colleague and fellow passenger, Zoologist J.F. Eschscholzia.
Poppies still grow wild in parts of California. From March to October, their golden splendor dots the terrain from coastline to hillside with their wispy petals waving in the breeze of the Santa Ana wind.
Golden Gate Area Colony
For membership inquires, please contact us here.
Our Colony meets in Pasadena, CA in the months of June and October.
The California Poppy Colony was organized May 16, 1977
Please send prospective member inquires to our Colony President.
The Spaniards were in awe of its beauty and called it “copa de oro,” or cup of gold. The Indians used it as food and a Prussian naturalist named it “Eschscholzia California.” But the delicate, tissue petal flower is best known as the Golden Poppy or California Poppy.
Early legend say sailors used a poppy-covered Pasadena hillside as a landmark because its golden hue was easily spotted for miles out at sea. The showy profusion of golden poppies led our first Spanish explorers to call the Pacific Coast “land of fire.”
It was California Indians who recognized the poppy not only as a lovely flower, but also as an important natural resource. They boiled the plant’s stalks and stems for food, extracted its oil to groom their hair and used the stem’s numbing milky substance to ease toothache pain. When the California gold rush began, the Indians credited their beautiful plant with producing the treasured golden nuggets.
In 1815, Adelbert von Chamisso, a Prussian naturalist, was part of a scientific expedition sailing around the world. When they reached the port of San Francisco. They marveled at the sight of golden poppies sweeping the steep city’s hills. So enraptured by the sight was von Chamisso, that he had them recognized botanically by naming them after his colleague and fellow passenger, Zoologist J.F. Eschscholzia.
Poppies still grow wild in parts of California. From March to October, their golden splendor dots the terrain from coastline to hillside with their wispy petals waving in the breeze of the Santa Ana wind.
Golden Gate Area Colony
For membership inquires, please contact us here.
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