Many years ago when I was in training on a military base in Nevada, our commander ordered us to spray herbicide over a large area that was covered in beautiful wildflowers. They had bluish leaves and yellow poppy-like blooms. I wish I’d had the wherewithal to refuse the order, but disobeying would have been problematic. I’m curious what the name of the plant is, and what its current status might be.
The plant you are describing is the Las Vegas bearpoppy, Arctomecon californica. Despite the species name, it is not native to California, but instead to the southern Nevada and the eastern Mojave Desert, where it has largely disappeared. The common name, bearpoppy, describes its fuzzy bear-paw shaped leaves.
Its current status is ‘critically endangered.’ In 2019, the Center for Biological Diversity petitioned for Endangered Species Act protection for the wildflower. By 2020, the Center reported that “Las Vegas bearpoppy, in southern Nevada, is experiencing a dramatic, ongoing loss of habitat due to urban sprawl and mining.”
You can learn more about the flower (including its relationship with pollinators, especially the Mojave poppy bee) in the full text of the petition to list it as endangered.