Constituents​

• Many isoquinoline alkaloids found in Eschscholzia have medicinal properties including the antimicrobial/ neurotransmitter agents berberine and sanguinarine. Sanguinarine has been shown to inhibit lipoxygenase, which may contribute anodyne and anti-inflammatory mechanisms, and to inhibit glycine transport and thus promote analgesia.

• Eschscholzia also contains pavinane groups of alkaloids including pavinane, protopine, benzylisoquinoline/ benzophenanthridine, and aporphine and protoberberine groups.

• Benzylisoquinoline alkaloids in Eschscholzia include papaverine, noscapine, apomorphine, reticuline, and tubocurarine, with the majority shown to have neurotransmitter and psychotropic effects, including anodyne properties. For example, various forms of reticuline have been shown to inhibit acetylcholinesterase in human blood, whereas other forms bind serotonin 5-HT(1A) and 5-HT(7) receptors at 100 µg/mL, which may contribute to anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects.

• Alkaloids, including protopine, califonidine, eschscholtzine, allocryptopine, sanguinarine, chelerythrine;

• Flavone glycosides

• Carotenoids

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Energetics/ Organoleptics

• ENERGETICS: cool / mildly bitter - clears heat, settles pain

• ELEMENT: fire

• California Poppy flower remedy expands one’s vision so that they may experience the magic of flowers, plants, trees, animals, human beings and unseen vibrational frequencies. It ignites intuition and awareness of dreams and imagination. The essence helps those who have clairvoyant gifts.  

• Known as ‘The Cup of Gold,” California Poppy flower remedy  stimulates joy so that we may embrace the magical life we live.

• Great for spiritual work and deepens one's connection with nature.

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Contradictions​

• California poppy might cause sleepiness and drowsiness. Taking California poppy along with sedative medications might cause too much sleepiness.

• Sedative medications such as Benzodiazepines interacts with California Poppy and should be avoided.

• Other sedative medications to be avoided include: clonazepam (Klonopin), diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan), phenobarbital (Donnatal, zolpidem (Ambien), and others.

• Long-term use is acceptable, as the plant is generally not considered habit forming.

• Don't use if you're pregnant or breast feeding; will suppress lactation.

• May be slightly dangerous if given to children or senior citizens or taken in large quantities. Otherwise, no adverse effects noted.

• To some sensitive individuals the plant can exhibit very subtle euphoric properties.

• Theoretically, concomitant use of California poppy with benzodiazepines may cause additive effects and side effects (12596,12597). Some benzodiazepines include clonazepam (Klonopin), diazepam (Valium), lorazepam (Ativan)

• Theoretically, concomitant use of California poppy with drugs with sedative properties may cause additive effects and side effects.

• Theoretically, concomitant use with supplements that have sedative properties might enhance therapeutic and adverse effects of California poppy (12596,12597). Some of these supplements include 5-HTP, calamus, catnip, hops, Jamaican dogwood, kava, St. John's wort, skullcap, valerian, yerba mansa, and others.

• Theoretically, California poppy may increase the risk of drowsiness and impair motor skills; avoid concomitant use.

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History

• Due to this pretty little flower, the state of California is often referred to as the ‘Land of Fire’ and the ‘Golden West’, and it officially became the state flower in 1890.

• According to an unspecified source, Native American tribes believed, (or at least let the early Spanish explorers believe) that the orange petals of the California Poppy filled the soil with gold when they touched the ground.

• Poppies have long been a symbol of remembrance of those who died in wartime since a famous poem described the brutal trench warfare that took place in the poppy fields of Flanders during World War I. This is why Veterans wear and distribute poppies on Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day in the US and throughout the world on Remembrance Day.

• Centuries before this, however, it was believed that poppies sprung up in places where men died in battle and white poppies are said to have sprung up in the battlefields of Genghis Khan.

• Poppies have also been associated with sleep and death, perhaps because the narcotic made from the red opium poppy can easily bring about both.

• Ancient Greeks and Romans presented them as offerings to the dead.

• In the Victorian Language of Flowers, the poppy symbolized eternal sleep, oblivion, imagination. Red poppies also mean pleasure and the yellow poppy means success.

• In Persian literature, the poppy is a flower of love and symbolizes those who died for its sake.

• According to Servius, Demeter loved a youth named Mekon. When he died, she turned him into a poppy.

• Hypnos, Greek God of Sleep and Dreaming, sometimes carried a poppy stalk or a horn filled with poppy juice.