Poppies close up for the night - presumably to protect the pollen. The phenomenon of plant movement in response to day/night is called nyctinasty. Poppies accomplish this with a change in turgor pressure caused by movement of fluid in and out of special cells at the base of the petals.
This photo made me fall in love with California poppies all over again (double click the photo for a better view). Out for a drive on a Sunday morning to take some landscape pictures, I was disappointed that the poppies along the way were still all closed up from the night. But when I saw this lone flower by the road as I stepped out to take a photo of a field of buttercups, I realized that the closed-up poppies had an elegance all their own. The petals gracefully enclosed each other in a neat little hug and the morning light showed off the color and curve of the petals sublimely.
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