Poppy Jasper is a trade name used to described some orbicular jaspers, which are jaspers whose pattern consist of orb or sphere shapes similar to "flower poppies".
It comes from Morgan Hill, California near the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
There are four known locations of Poppy Jasper near the town of Morgan Hill, none of which are now being actively mined because the gemstone is found only on private property or protected lands.
This area is known for tectonic plate movement and this gemstone cabochon material usually has fracture lines-both healed and unhealed.
The Greek origin of the word jasper, iaspis, means "spotted stone." It is a member of the chalcedony family, or a micro-crystalline quartz, and Poppy Jasper cabochons have a hardness of about 7 on the Moh's scale.