Eschscholzia californica

Comments: E. californica grows naturally in open, well drained areas, in grasslands in deserts, and from valleys to foothills (U.S. Forest Service 1988, Hickman 1993). However, because E. californica is widely cultivated and used in reclamation plantings, it may occur outside of these habitats (Welsh et al. 1993, Gleason and Cronquist 1963).

Subspecies mexicana is known from limestone slopes of the Franklin Mountains near El Paso, Texas (Correll and Johnston 1970), rocky slopes and mesas in westcentral to southwestern New Mexico (Martin and Hutchins 1980), plains and mesas through most of Arizona (Kearney and Peebles 1960), and creosote bush communities in southwest Utah (Albee et al. 1988).

"Notes: Western Ghats & Eastern Ghats, Cultivated, Native of North America"

"Tamil Nadu: Dindigul, Nilgiri, Salem"

Eschscholzia californica Cham.:
Chile (South America)
China (Asia)
Guatemala (Mesoamerica)
Honduras (Mesoamerica)
Mexico (Mesoamerica)
United States (North America)
Ecuador (South America)

Note: This information is based on publications available through Tropicos and may not represent the entire distribution. Tropicos does not categorize distributions as native or non-native.

Global Range: E. californica presently occurs from western Canada through Texas and in all states in between. Eastwards, it is found in a few plains states and in most states east of the Mississippi River (USDA-NRCS 1999).

Apparently, the native range of this species is the southwest U.S., as far east as Utah; occurrences further east are apparently escapes from cultivation, or resulting from "wildflower," roadside, or reclamation plantings (Nelson and Williams 1992, Welsh et al. 1993, Weber and Wittmann 1996a, Gleason and Cronquist 1963).

Subspecies mexicana is apparently native to west Texas (Correll and Johnston 1970), westcentral and southwestern New Mexico (Martin and Hutchins 1980), all but the northeastern portion of Arizona (Kearney and Peebles 1960), northern Sonora (Kearney and Peebles 1960), extreme southwest Utah (Albee et al. 1988), along the Colorado River corridor into far southern Nevada (Nevada Natural Heritage Program, Kartesz 1988), and desert mountains of California (Hickman 1993). Kartesz (1999) considers it extant in all these states.

Hickman (1993) lists the range of subspecies californica as California to southern Washington, Nevada [western], New Mexico, and northwest Baja California, although the western Nevada occurrences may have spread from plantings (Nevada Natural Heritage Program). It has apparently spread from cultivation throughout much of the eastern and western United States and Canada (Kartesz 1999). It is reportedly introduced and non-native to Illinois, Michigan, British Columbia, Manitoba, Wyoming, Ontario, Tennessee, and Missouri (Natural Heritage Programs).

An attempted introduction of this species was purportedly made in the Franklin Mountains near El Paso, Texas, but the plant failed to persist at this location (Bill Carr pers. comm.).

Distribution: A native of N. America (California and Oregon), cultivated widely in Europe, Asia and elsewhere as an ornamentel plant.

Plants , perennial or annual, caulescent, erect or spreading, 5-60 cm, glabrous, sometimes glaucous; taproot heavy in perennial forms. Leaves basal and cauline; blade with ultimate lobes obtuse or acute. Inflorescences cymose or 1-flowered; buds erect. Flowers: receptacle obconic, cup with spreading free rim; calyx acute to acuminate, glabrous, sometimes glaucous; petals yellow to orange, usually with orange spot at base, 20-60 mm. Capsules 3-9 cm. Seeds brown to black, spheric to ellipsoid, 1.5-1.8 mm, reticulate.

Erect to diffuse perennial herb, 25-60 cm tall. Stem scapose or leafy, quadrangular, glabrous. Leaves radical and cauline, alternate, 10-30 cm long, decompound; ultimate segments linear or oblong, c. 1 mm broad; petiole 5-20 cm long; cauline leaves smaller on shorter petiole (3-5 cm long). Inflorescence solitary axillary or terminal; peduncle 6-20 cm long. Flower buds ovate, 2-3 cm long, 1 cm broad. Flowers 4-8 cm across. Sepals deciduous, leaving 2 rims at the base of the ovary, conical, c. 2 cm long-outer preading rim of the receptacle 3-4 mm broad with parallel striation; inner rim erect, hyaline and short. Petals 2-6 cm long, 2-3.5 cm broad, broadly obovate, shortly clawed, orange; Stamens yellow, 7-10 mm long; anthers 5-8 mm long, basifixed-dithecous, oblong. Ovary c. 4 mm long; style short and thickened; stigmas 4, filiform. Capsule 7-10 cm long, 3-4 mm broad, longitudinally ribbed, glabrous, straight; seeds globose, black, c. 2 mm in diameter. Cotyledons bifid.

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 81 to >300

Fl.Per. February June.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 0
Specimens with Barcodes: 1
Species With Barcodes: 1

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: NNA - Not Applicable

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N4 - Apparently Secure

Rounded Global Status Rank: G4 - Apparently Secure

Reasons: This species is native in a moderately large range in the western U.S. states and northwestern Mexico (and is now widely cultivated, and frequently established and persisting outside cultivation in much of the rest of the U.S. and southern Canada). In its native range, the plant is threatened by habitat alterations and genetic contamination of wild populations with genes from cultivars from roadside wildflower plantings.

Comments: With the rampant use of E. californica for landscaping purposes and roadside wildflower plantings, the primary threat to this species appears to be the genetic contamination of wild populations. This, coupled with the encroachment of human activities on the historic native habitat of this species is resulting in a large scale, human induced transformation in the distribution and genetic composition of this species.

Although subsp. californica appears to be the primary taxon used for landscaping and roadside plantings, in Arizona, subspecies mexicana is also seeded along the roads and sold in desert nurseries (Sue Schuetze pers. comm.).

Throughout most of its current range, harvest of this species for the medicinal plant trade does not pose a significant threat, since it has been so widely introduced. However, some remaining small, high quality natural populations could conceivably be threatened by this practice in parts of the original range of this species. There are currently no reports that individual populations have been negatively impacted or extirpated due to collection for the plant trade.

An individual familiar with U.S. trade in herbal medicinals estimates that trade in this plant for medicinal purposes is on the order of 250 pounds per year (McGuffin pers. comm.). The aboveground parts are used.

Biological Research Needs: Information should be collected or compiled on two issues to help draw a clearer picture on the conservation status of E. californica: its precise original range (at least more precise than what is described above), and its ability to persist on grazed lands.

Comments: This species is widely reputed to be an effective treatment of nervousness, anxiety, and sleeplessness, with its primary action on the nervous system. It is also used to treat stomach cramps, toothaches, and depression (AllHerb.com 2000, Frontier Co-op 2000). It is commonly used in Europe as a relaxant and antispasmodic, and has mild sedative and analgesic properties (AllHerb.com 2000). The above-ground portions of the plant are generally used in medicinal preparations (Robyn Klein pers. comm.). It can be used to make a fresh tincture as a remedy for the above ailments, and is also a constituent of many commercially sold herbal blends. Many such products are intended to help restless children relax. It is also included with wild oats and St. Johnswort in formulas for the treatment of addictions (AllHerb.com 2000). Strange dreams are a side effect of taking this plant in some people (Robyn Klein pers. comm.).

Prices for this species were found as follows:

San Joaquin Valley, California: $3.00/lb of unspecified material (above-ground parts?) (Ed Fletcher pers. comm.)

U.S., internet: $5.96/fl. oz. of "Children's Relax" or "Relax" herbal remedy

U.S., internet: $10.46/2 fl. oz. of "Herbal Wellness for Kids, Orange Flavored"

Fort Collins, Colorado, mail order: $16.00/lb of seeds (~248,000 seeds)