Eschscholzia minutiflora

Coville s poppy

Family: Papaveraceae · Type: annual · Native

Coville's poppy is a California native annual found in southeastern Sierra Nevada Foothills, eastern Sierra Nevada, and desert regions in desert washes, flats, and slopes at elevations below 2,600 meters. Flowering from January to May, this plant produces bright yellow flowers with occasional orange spots at the base, ranging from 3 to 26 millimeters long. Growing with erect or spreading stems 5 to 35 centimeters tall, the plant appears glaucous gray or blue-green and completely glabrous. Its leaves have distinctive short segments, generally obtuse and entire, with the uppermost cauline leaves containing more than 8 segments. The plant produces slender fruits 2.4 to 8 centimeters long, with small brown to black seeds that have a distinctive net-ridged surface.

Habitat: Desert washes, flats, slopes

Bloom period: Jan-May

Elevation: < 2600 m.

Bioregions: se SCoRO, SNE, D

California counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo, Los Angeles, Kern, Imperial, San Diego, Mono, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Tulare, Fresno, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Alameda, San Benito

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.