True poppies are in the genus Papaver.

The opium poppy are Papaver somniferum.

The common red poppy, also known as Flander's field poppy, that edible poppy
seeds come from is Papaver rhoeas.

Any other genus in the family Papaveraceae are not true poppies.

The California poppy is in the genus Eschscholtzia. The wild Eschscholtzia
you saw was probably a different species from the widely grown
E.californica. There are several species in the genus, especially in the
Southwestern US and Mexico.


"Charles" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 15 May 2004 14:07:42 GMT, "Cereus-validus"
wrote:

The California poppy is not a true poppy, you stoner, but it is in the
same
family.

I'm curious, what makes something a "true poppy"? I thought that term
could apply to anything in papaveraceae.

Side note, yesterday I saw a bunch of what I believe to be California
poppies, E. californica, with blooms about the size of a penny, very
small. It was in a serpentine area, probably the cause of the small
blooms.




--

- Charles
-
-does not play well with others