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.
Arctomecon californica is a herbaceous perennial found in Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) habitats, in barren shales with gypsum substrates, at 500m-1000mm (1,600feet-3,000feetm) in elevation.[1]
The plant flowers in mid spring with deep yellow petals from large buds on tall 1–3 feet branching inflorescences. Fruiting occurs in early summer.[2]
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".[3]
The species has declined dramatically in recent decades and has now been petitioned for listing on the US Endangered Species list.[4] It is a protected species in Nevada and Arizona due to its rarity. It is declining in its primary habitat in Nevada. Populations have undergone a serious decline associated with land development and grazing and the growth in the European and Africanized honeybee population associated with the latter. Habitat fragmentation is a possible contributing factor to reduced levels of genetic variation in populations in the Las Vegas Valley.[5]
Arctomecon californica is pollinated by a specialist bee, the Mojave poppy bee. Pollination occurs by female Mojave poppy bees who collect pollen from the plants to feed their young.[6] The Mojave poppy bee is imperiled due to habitat loss.[7]