Hesperomecon linearis
Narrowleaf queen poppy
Family: Papaveraceae · Type: annual · Native
Narrowleaf queen poppy is a California native annual found in central California's Sierra Nevada Foothills, Tehachapi, San Joaquin Valley, and Central Western regions in grassy areas and washes at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from March to June, this delicate poppy produces cream-colored flowers with yellow bases, 3 to 20 millimeters long, with petals that are ovate to obovate. Growing 3 to 40 centimeters tall with spreading-hairy stems, it has a delicate, open growth habit. Its leaves are primarily basal or near-basal, linear in shape, ranging from 5 to 85 millimeters long. The fruit is an ovate capsule 10 to 15 millimeters long, containing small reniform-obovate seeds.
Habitat: Grassy areas, washes
Bloom period: Mar-Jun
Elevation: < 1000 m
Bioregions: c&s SNF, Teh, SnJV, CW
California counties: Contra Costa, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Kern, Stanislaus, San Benito, Santa Cruz, Madera, Tulare, Alameda, San Mateo, Los Angeles, Siskiyou, Fresno, Sonoma
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.