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Dorothy's Poppies

© Gregg Pasterick

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz our intrepid adventurers, driven by the need to get home, a brain, a heart, some courage, come upon the infamous poppy field: "They walked along listening to the singing of the bright-colored birds and looking at the lovely flowers which now became so thick that the ground was carpeted with them. There were big yellow and white and blue and purple blossoms, besides great clusters of scarlet poppies, which were so brilliant in color they almost dazzled Dorothy's eyes.

'Aren't they beautiful?' the girl asked, as she breathed in the spicy scent of the flowers."

Opium Poppies (Papaver somniferum) no doubt, and growing in such profusion along with so many other colorful wildflowers, the passage makes me wonder if it didn't take place in Antelope Valley, at the western edge of the Mojave Desert. There the landscape is carpeted with a rainbow of colors, none more beautiful and impressive than the endless acres of bright orange California Poppies. This fairy tale of flowers may be the most incredible and gaudy display of poppies around, but it is by no means the only species to be found in the spring. All across North America, poppies are unfolding their petals, some white, some yellow, some reddish, and of course some orange.

In the east, a variety of poppies are a part of the spring explosion of wildflowers. Beginning with the pure white blossoms of Bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) (see Bloodroot; a Bloody Good Poppy, March 18, 2003) and the bright yellow blossoms of Wood Poppies (Stylophorum diphyllum) in March, a parade of poppies marches through the season. The parade includes Dutchman's-Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria) and Squirrel Corn (D. canadensis) and Wild Bleeding Hearts (D. eximia) and Celandine (Chelidonium majus). In the west you'll find Prickly Poppies (Argemone polyanthemos) and Tree Poppies (Dendromecon rigida) and Wind Poppies (Stylomecon heterophylla) and Matilija Poppies (Romneya coulteri) and Cream Cups (Platystemon californicus) and, of course California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica subsp. californica). There are so many varieties of poppies in bloom in the spring you have to wonder how other wildflowers find room to put down their own roots.

There are about 25 genera in the Poppy Family (Papaveraceae), consisting of about 200 species. They are found mostly in temperate and subtropical regions, and of course many are grown as ornamentals. The Poppy seeds used in baking come from the (Papaver) species. (My grandmother - Babi - was cook of some local renown in East Pittsburgh, PA. One of her specialties were her Poppy Seed Rolls, which really freaked me out; I was a kid and this was the 60s and were we trippin' on dessert, or what?) Wild Bleeding Hearts, Dutchman's-Breeches, and Squirrel Corn are all members of the Bleeding Heart Sub-family (Fumarioidea).

Dorothy's Poppy Field?

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