Poppies...poppies!

(If, after reading the title of this post, you didn't just cackle like the Wicked Witch of the West, shame on you!)

Amapola

A long while back, somebody asked me what an amapola was called in English. I didn't have a good answer so, like any good teacher would do, I just made up a fake answer and said, "Well, we really don't have that flower...so I just call it amapola and use the Spanish word." A-hem. Oops.

I've recently found out that it is the poppy. But wait! Poppies aren't RED. Who in their right mind would want to have a red poppy! Poppies are that beautiful golden-yellow color... that's why they're the state flower of the Golden State (California). You know, Eureka! We have found it! The Gold Rush! California here I come! 

The California Poppy

There just had to be something wrong with my dictionary. After searching far and wide, I had no choice but to conclude that amapola = poppy. Of course, after looking everywhere for the translation, I am now seeing them everywhere in Spain. They're quite ubiquitous round these parts. Apparently there are more of them than usual because it rained a lot this winter. I'm convinced that someone "up there" is just haunting me because of my botanical ignorance.

It seems that this California girl has been brainwashed into thinking that her state flower is the most elite of all poppies (which it is!), so there couldn't possibly be so many poppies of another color in existence. It does seem like the red ones are more common throughout the world...but that's just what Wikipedia says. Wikipedia... shmikipedia!

So, tell me. Which one do you prefer: The plain poppy or the golden, magnificent California poppy?