California Poppy Medicine
California poppy is such a beautiful plant to look at and medicine to use. This wildflower grows well in drier climates and makes a great garden herb in warm moist environments like the Willamette valley. You may often see these flowers along roadsides or in flower beds. Just don’t harvest the wild flowers in California as it is a protected species there. With how easily it grows, you shouldn’t have a problem introducing them to your garden. I have successfully started them from seeds and love to have them filling in wherever there is a sunny spot. In fact, we are currently in the process of replacing a portion of our backyard to a patch of poppies and clovers to add more color and drought resistance to our lawn space. If this sounds like a great idea for you, you can purchase different cover crop seed mixes from Strictly Medicinal Seeds located in Williams, Oregon.
Before we jump into the medicinal properties of California poppy, let’s cover a few reasons not to take this medicine:
Do not use California poppy if you are pregnant - one of it’s alkaloid constituents - cryptopine can cause uterine contractions (1).
Do not use California poppy if you are taking an MAOI medication (often used for depression) (2).
If you are taking any other medications, check with a medical provider well versed in the medicinal use of herbs and pharmaceutical medications such as a Naturopathic Physician before starting California poppy or any other herb.
California Poppy’s Medicinal Uses:
Sedative, Antispasmodic, Mild anodyne (1)
These are the terms given to California poppy by Dr. Sharol Tilgner in Herbal Medicine from the Heart of the Earth - one of my favorite herbal reference books if you haven’t caught on just yet. Let’s break these terms down a bit and also add in a few other uses for this plant.
Sedative:
Sedatives will calm your nerves and help you fall asleep. They aren’t quite as strong in this aspect as hypnotics, so when you know how this herb works with your system, you can use it to calm anxiety and stress away from bedtime. California poppy has a reputation as a safe sleep aid for children. It can help with people who suffer from shallow sleep, and interestingly, it can also help regulate sleep cycles in people who sleep very deep. This explains why California poppy has been used to help with children who wet the bed when they can’t wake up in time. (2)
Antispasmodic:
Antispasmodics are our friends whenever we suffer from muscle cramping. If you’ve ever had a “kink” in your neck, you know how painful these spasms can be. California poppy is a great friend with these spasms, and I include it in most of my pain formulations for this purpose.
Mild anodyne:
An anodyne is a substance that relieves pain directly by acting on the centers of the brain that interpret those signals. These centrally acting pain relievers often involve opiate receptors (mu receptors) in our brains. Herbs like California poppy, kava kava, and kratum, do have mild opiate activity and can show up on a urine drug screen (3). When used in formulations with other herbs, we can combine anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, sedative, anodyne, and nutritional herbs to create a much more supportive pain relieving formulation. Still, we never want to rely only on pain relieving medicines (natural or not) when recovering from injury or addressing chronic pain. We must also address the healing that needs to take place and ensure good blood flow, gentle movement, pristine nutrition, and in cases of trauma we must address the psychological components of the injury, pain, the healing process, and any feelings regarding lack of safety and trust. For more information, I highly recommend the book: The Body Keeps The Score.
California Poppy as a Flower Essence:
I would be remiss if I didn’t touch on the energetic effects of California poppy which are best expressed when used as a flower essence. According the the Flower Essence Society (4):
“California Poppy Stabilizes the golden light of the heart, encouraging more self-responsibility and quiet inner development. In this way, the soul finds the true treasure it seeks - the radiant sun force of the awakened human heart.”
Growing California Poppy:
When using California poppy for medicine, you will want to use the whole plant roots and all. It’s best collected and processed when it’s in it’s green seed pod stage - after the flowers have turned into seed pods, but before they have dried out. If you don’t have a large patch of plants, you may want to collect seeds during your first growing season and then harvest in subsequent years always leaving some to go to seed and repopulate your area.
When growing from seed, I’ve found the best success in sowing seeds directly into the soil in a spot that gets at least 6 hours of direct sunlight daily. As with all baby plants, you want to find that balance of keeping the soil moist but not drowning out your seeds. I find a slow 5 minute watering each dry day with a sprinkler turned on low or a soaker hose works well. I prefer to water in the morning. Don’t forget to add mulch to the area to keep the soil from completely drying out each day.
You can also start California poppy seeds indoors and transplant outside once they are more substantial in size. I’ve lost a few plants this way which is why I’ve switched to direct sowing.
Making Medicine:
As mentioned above, we want to use the whole plant when making medicine from California poppy. When the plant is in its green seed stage, dig the whole thing up, remove any yellow outer leaves, wash off the roots and either dry the plant or use it fresh to immediately make your medicine.
Personally, I mostly use California poppy in tincture form; however, I plan on making a fresh herb glycerine extraction this year for an alcohol-free option. You can also use the plant dried as a tea, but you will want to partner it with tastier herbs to make it more palatable.
The dried plant can last for about 18 months when stored in a dark, dry place without big temperature swings (3). A closet makes a great herb cabinet.
If you are interested in making a flower essence, this can be a delightful activity. Here is a lovely video by Asia Suler of One Willow Apothecary talking more about flower essences and how to make them.
I hope you have enjoyed learning a bit more about this golden friend. We will dive deeper into sleep and pain this month and wrap things up with recipes featuring California Poppy. Please let me know if you have any questions or thoughts to share in the comments below.
To our health!
References:
Tilgner, SM, Herbal Medicine: from the Heart of the Earth, 2009, Wise Acres LLC, Pleasant Hill, OR
Wood, M, The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to New World Medicinal Plants, North Atlantic Books, Berkley, CA, 2009
Moore, M, Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West, Museum of New Mexico Press, Santa Fe, 1993
Kaminski, P, Katz, R Flower Essence Repertory: A Comprehensive Guide to the Flower Essences researched by Dr. Edward Bach and by the Flower Essence Society. 2004, The Flower Essence Society, Nevada City, CA
