California poppy
Eschscholzia californica Cham.; in pharmacy Eschscholziae herba, the dried flowering aerial parts
- Known today as
- Eschscholzia californica, of the family Papaveraceae, a plant about 30 cm high with glaucous blue-green leaves divided in threes into round, lobed segments, native to California and northern Mexico and widely grown in European gardens. Its silky four-petalled flowers, yellow to orange, stand singly on long stems; the petals “close at night or in cold, windy weather and open again the following morning.” The aerial parts and, more richly, the roots contain alkaloids, and the flowers a purple-red pigment, eschscholtz-xanthin. It is the state flower of California.
- Kind
- Plant
- Constituents
- californidine, protopine, cryptopine, and 2 more
- In other databases
- Plants of the World Online · GBIF · Wikidata
Caution. Not recommended under eighteen, for lack of data. The Commission E monograph, the assessment report notes, advised avoiding it in pregnancy because of its pharmacological activity.
California poppy: what was it used for?
A gentle soporific. The European Medicines Agency’s assessment report records it as a traditional medicinal plant of the American Indian population, used by the rural people of the western United States as an analgesic and sedative, and “traditionally known as a soporific remedy which is harmless”: an excellent soporific for children with whooping cough, and for adults a remedy for neuralgia with hypnotic and pain-relieving properties. It cites Felter and Lloyd, writing in 1898, for its use without the dangers of opiates.
California poppy: what does modern science say?
The European Medicines Agency’s herbal committee accepts the powdered herb as a traditional herbal medicine, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” for the relief of mild symptoms of mental stress and to aid sleep (monograph of 2015); such products have been on the European market since 1982. Its assessment report finds 0.5 to 1.2 per cent of alkaloids, reckoned as californidine, of six groups, among them protopine, cryptopine, and chelidonine, with rutin in the flowers. The clinical evidence it found, an open study of sixty patients with sleep disorders, did not meet the criteria for well-established use; its efficacy rests “only” on long-standing use and experience.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- californidinethe alkaloids, 0.5 to 1.2 per cent, are reckoned as it
- protopine ChEMBL
- cryptopine
- chelidonine ChEMBL
- rutin ChEMBLin the flowers
- Mechanism
- Not established in the sources read for this entry.
- Standing
- European Union herbal monograph (2015): traditional use, “exclusively based upon long-standing use,” for mild symptoms of mental stress and to aid sleep.
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Eschscholziae herba (California poppy). EMA/HMPC/680372/2013, 28 January 2015. Read in full · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Eschscholziae herba. EMA/HMPC/680375/2013, 28 January 2015. Read in part · the text read
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
California poppy: what lore surrounds it?
In German practice, the assessment report notes from Commission E, it was mixed with valerian, St John’s wort, passionflower, and lemon balm for a long list of nervous complaints, “Reactive, agitated and masked depressions, melancholy, neurasthenia” among them, and as a sleeping tea.
Sources
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. European Union herbal monograph on Eschscholziae herba (California poppy). EMA/HMPC/680372/2013, 28 January 2015. Read in full · the text read
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Eschscholziae herba. EMA/HMPC/680375/2013, 28 January 2015. Read in part · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Sources
- 2 cited: 1 read in full, 1 read in part.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
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Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published October 16, 2026
- Chicago
“California poppy.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 16, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/california-poppy.
- MLA
“California poppy.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 16 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/california-poppy. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
- APA
California poppy. (2026, October 16). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/california-poppy
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See Also
Sharing protopine, chelidonine, rutin
Fumaria officinalis · Chelidonium majus · Potentilla reptans · Fraxinus excelsior · Viola tricolor · Ruta graveolens
Nearby in the alphabet
Camphor (The crystalline gum of Cinnamomum camphora) · Calamine (an ore of zinc) · Cantharides (The dried blister beetle Lytta vesicatoria) · Caesar’s mushroom (egg-like when young and seated in a white cup) · Caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyris) · Butterbur (of the daisy family, with huge rhubarb-like leaves in damp places) · Capsicum · Butcher’s broom
Historical description, not medical advice.
