San Benito poppy facts for kids
Quick facts for kids San Benito poppy |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Eschscholzia
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| Species: |
hypecoides
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Eschscholzia hypecoides is a beautiful wild flower often called the San Benito poppy. It's a type of poppy flower. This special plant is known for its bright yellow or orange flowers. It grows in a specific part of California.
Where the San Benito Poppy Grows
The San Benito poppy is a plant that is endemic to California. This means it only grows naturally in California and nowhere else in the world! You can mostly find it in the Inner Southern California Coast Ranges. It especially likes to grow in and around San Benito County.
This poppy makes its home in different places. It loves oak woodlands, which are forests with lots of oak trees. It also grows on grassy slopes and in chaparral habitats. Chaparral is a type of shrubland with tough, woody plants.
Scientists once thought this wildflower was just a different kind of tufted poppy. But now they know it is its own unique species!
What the San Benito Poppy Looks Like
The San Benito poppy is an annual herb. This means it grows from a seed, flowers, produces new seeds, and then dies all in one year. Its leaves are made up of round parts. The plant grows fuzzy stems that can reach up to 30 centimeters tall. That's about the length of a ruler!
At the top of these thin, straight stems, you'll find bright yellow or orange poppy flowers. Each flower has petals that are about one or two centimeters long. Sometimes, these petals have darker spots of yellow or orange.
After the flower blooms, it forms a fruit. This fruit is a long, thin capsule, about 3 to 7 centimeters long. Inside this capsule are tiny, brown seeds. These seeds have a cool netted pattern on them.
