# California poppy (Eschscholzia californica)

**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

> **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.

## 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.

## 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 and toxicology

- **californidine**: the alkaloids, 0.5 to 1.2 per cent, are reckoned as it
- **protopine**: 
- **cryptopine**: 
- **chelidonine**: 
- **rutin**: in 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.

## 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.
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Eschscholziae herba*. EMA/HMPC/680375/2013, 28 January 2015.
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *European Union herbal monograph on Eschscholziae herba (California poppy)*. EMA/HMPC/680372/2013, 28 January 2015.
- European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. *Assessment report on Eschscholziae herba*. EMA/HMPC/680375/2013, 28 January 2015.

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*California poppy.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-16. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/california-poppy

Historical description, not medical advice.