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California bearpoppy

Arctomecon californica

Also called Golden Bearclaw Poppy, Las Vegas Bearpoppy

California bearpoppy
Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0

California bearpoppy is a perennial desert wildflower of the Mojave Desert, native to barren gypsum shale slopes near Las Vegas and Lake Mead. It is grown in gardens only with very sharp drainage, full sun and dry conditions, and is rarely cultivated.

Family
Papaveraceae (Poppy family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly once established, letting the soil dry out fully between waterings; overwatering rots the roots.
Soil
Very well-drained gritty or gravelly mix, ideally with some gypsum or lime.
Temperature
Tolerates hot summers and frost to about -10 °C when dry; protect from waterlogged cold.
How easy
Hard
Native range
S. Nevada to SW. Utah
Climate
desert or dry shrubland

About

Arctomecon californica is a species of poppy known by several common names, including California bearpoppy, Las Vegas bearpoppy, golden bearpoppy, and yellow-flowered desert poppy. It is a perennial herb that is native to the eastern Mojave Desert.

Where it grows

Arctomecon californica is native to the eastern Mojave Desert: in areas around Las Vegas, Nevada such as Tule Springs; the Lake Mead area; in and around Las Vegas; and in extreme Mohave County in Northwestern Arizona. It is also known in Utah from a single collection in Washington County, characterized as having "apparently occurred in cultivation on private property".

Other Arctomecon plants

Bearpoppy

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Arctomecon californica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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