Is Picking California Poppies Illegal?

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After a wet winter, California hillsides are carpeted with wildflowers — especially our glowing, golden orange state flower, the California Poppy. In honor of this super-bloom, we're reprising our episode from 2017 about a rumor concerning these little beauties: that it's illegal to pick them. Reporter Jessica Placzek helps us answer that question, and discovers more about them and their use by indigenous peoples. Additional Reading: Can You Go To Jail For Picking California's State Flower? Read a transcript of this episode Hear our episode about how 420 became synonymous with smoking weed Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest This episode was reported by Jessica Placzek. Bay Curious is made at KQED by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, Brendan Willard and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Paul Lancour, Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Jenny Pritchett and Holly Kernan.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	from K-QED. Okay, we have to talk about the wildflowers this year.
0:07.0	All those winter rains have made for a pretty spectacular start to spring, and the California poppies are beloved
0:15.2	state flower well they're popping off. I love these little flowers for their
0:20.0	bright orange color it's so vibrant I think it looks like it's glowing and
0:25.3	they're soft velvety petals. Well I've been known to give them a little pet pet pet pet
0:31.6	I also love how they grow practically anywhere.
0:34.0	You'll find them in deserted lots on the side of the road,
0:37.0	and of course all over the hills and parks of the Bay Area.
0:41.0	I know I'm not the only one who loves these little flowers. I met
0:45.2	this week's question asker in a local park. My name is Josh Brett and I live in Oakland.
0:51.2	And his question stems from an oft repeated warning he heard during childhood.
0:55.7	Is it legal to pick California golden poppies?
0:58.9	It was sort of just common knowledge as a kid growing up in the bay Area in the 90s that it was illegal.
1:05.0	You might even go to jail for it.
1:08.0	Nobody really knows where they heard this from.
1:11.0	Could be older siblings, siblings parents even teachers.
1:15.0	Our episode today is a botanist dream.
1:20.0	We'll answer Josh's question but also go deep on the California golden poppy,
1:25.0	learning how native people use them and how scientists collect their poppy seeds.
1:30.0	This episode first aired in 2017, but given this year's bloom, we thought it was time to bring it back.
1:36.5	I'm Olivia Allen Price, and this is Bay Curious.
1:39.5	Oh, and stay tuned at the end of this episode for our April trivia contest and a chance to win a pretty sweet prize pack.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.