The California Poppy (eschscholtzia californica) is the state flower and best-known of all California wildflowers. Blossoms are two to three inches in diameter and deep golden yellow. Plants grow about a foot high and bloom from February to June.

This lovely illustration of the poppy was on the front cover of a 1940s dining car menu on the Los Angeles Limited train service that traveled between Chicago and Los Angeles. The name of the company is written in elegant script.

As you will see, the food offering in this dining car made by the famous Pullman company was extensive and included alcohol.

The Los Angeles Limited was the flagship train of the Union Pacific Railroad and started service in 1905, with the journey lasting between 68 to 74 hours.

In 1936, it lost its premier status to the new City of Los Angeles streamliner and was replaced in 1954 with coaches and sleeper cabins that were lighter weight and could travel faster.

However, it must have been lovely to travel on this comfortable train, and passengers could read these words on the back of the menu.

‘Perhaps the charm of our California lies in the fact that it means many things to many people. Here are orange groves and mountains; flowered valleys and desert lands; historic missions and Movieland; the sparkling waters of a great sea and virgin forests with mighty trees older than any other living thing; then, of course, there is metropolitan city life for those who prefer that.

‘There are even places where one may look from sea to desert and from snow to orange groves simply by turning his head. The Los Angeles Limited gives the traveler a foretaste and aftertaste of the atmosphere and charm of California.’