Delphinium is a genus of about 300 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The genus was erected by Carl Linnaeus.
Delphinium nudicaule, known by the common names canyon larkspur, red larkspur, orange larkspur, and canyon delphinium, is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It is native to low-elevation canyons and slopes, foothills, and mountain ranges of California, US, from the Sierra Nevada to the California Coast Ranges, and of Oregon. It grows below 6,500 feet (2,000 m).
Delphinium patens is a species of larkspur known by the common names zigzag larkspur and spreading larkspur. It is a wildflower limited mainly to California. Though not yet confirmed there, it is expected in Baja California. Plants grow typically 20 to 50 centimeters tall and bear up to 36 flowers each. The stems are mostly hairless, have reddish bases, and bears leaves on the lower half. Each leaf is divided into 3 to 9 lobes. The flower has dark blue sepals, the latter ones reflexed. The spur at the back of the flower is 4 to 8 millimeters long. The cleft at the center of the flower has white or yellowish scattered hairs. The elongated fruit is one or two centimeters long and contains pitted seeds.
Delphinium andersonii is a species of perennial larkspur known as Anderson's larkspur. This wildflower is native to western North America, where it can be found in the Great Basin and the Sierra Nevada.
Delphinium cardinale is a species of larkspur known by the common names scarlet larkspur and cardinal larkspur. This wildflower is native to California and Baja California, where it grows on coastal, inland, and desert chaparral slopes, such as the Colorado Desert, and the Peninsular and Transverse Ranges. The presence of diterpenoid alkaloids, probably including the highly toxic methyllycaconitine, in above-ground parts of D. cardinale means that they are likely to be toxic if ingested.
Delphinium decorum is a species of larkspur known by the common names coastal larkspur and yellow-tinge larkspur. This wildflower is native to California and Oregon, where it grows on the slopes of the coastal ranges from the San Francisco Bay Area north to the southern Oregon coast. It has an erect stem which approaches half a meter in height at maximum. The leaves, which are divided into a number of narrow lobes, are mostly located about the base of the plant. The spindly stem above bears two to twenty widely spaced flowers. Each flower is carried on a pedicel several centimeters long. The five long, flat sepals are extended to give the face of the flower a star shape, and they are usually deep blue to purple. The petals are similar in color, except the top two may be lighter to almost white. The spur is very thin and may be nearly two centimeters long.
Delphinium depauperatum is a species of larkspur known by the common names slim larkspur and dwarf larkspur. This wildflower is native to western North America where it is found in mountain meadows. It grows from a short root and erects a stem usually under 40 centimeters in maximum height. The small leaves are divided into lobes and are usually located about the base of the plant. Toward the top of the stem are flowers on long pedicels, with usually not more than 20 flowers per plant. The flowers generally have deep dark blue sepals which are flat and extended to the sides, and petals which are mainly the same color except for the top two, which may be lighter blue to white. The spur is between one and two centimeters long.
Delphinium glaucum, known by the common names Sierra larkspur, mountain larkspur, and glaucous larkspur, is a species of wildflower in the genus Delphinium, which belongs to the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is native to western North America from Arizona to Alaska, growing in moist mountainous environments such as riverbanks and meadows.
Delphinium gracilentum is a species of larkspur known by the common name pine forest larkspur. It is endemic to California, where it grows throughout the Sierra Nevada. This wildflower is usually around half a meter in maximum height, with leaves growing from the lowest third of the stem. The leaves usually have five lobes. The upper part of the stem is occupied by widely spaced flowers, which each grow at the end of a pedicel a few centimeters long. The flower color may be any shade of blue, or occasionally white or pinkish. The sepals often curl backwards. The spur is usually between 1 and 1.5 centimeters long.
Delphinium hesperium is a species of larkspur known by the common name foothill larkspur. It is also sometimes called western larkspur and coastal larkspur, but these names are less specific since other species share them. It is endemic to California, where it grows in woodland and grassland in the northern half of the state. This wildflower generally reaches one half to one meter in height. It has deeply lobed, prominently veined leaves, mostly located near the base of the plant. The inflorescence may hold very few to over 100 flowers, each on a long, thick pedicel. The flowers are usually a brilliant blue or purple, and sometimes lighter pinkish to white. Often the sepals are dark in color and the petals lighter. The spur is about one to two centimeters long.
Delphinium hutchinsoniae is a rare species of larkspur known by the common names Monterey larkspur and Hutchinson's larkspur. It is endemic to California, where it is known only from Monterey County. This wildflower reaches a meter in height but is usually shorter. The leaves are divided into lobes which are further divided into smaller lobes, and they are mostly located low on the plant. The top of the thin, erect stem is occupied by an inflorescence of not more than ten flowers. Each flower has sepals which are brilliant purple or blue to lavender, two petals which are the same color, and two upper petals which are usually white. The spur is up to two centimeters long and curves down at the tip.
Delphinium parryi is a species of larkspur known by the common names San Bernardino larkspur and Parry's larkspur. This wildflower is native to Baja California and California from the San Francisco Bay Area south. It is found in chaparral and woodlands and other habitats.
Delphinium trolliifolium is a species of larkspur known by the common names poison delphinium, cow poison, and Columbian larkspur. It is native to Washington, Oregon, and northern California. This wildflower reaches one half to just over one meter in height. It has large, shiny, deeply lobed leaves. The top half of the stem is an inflorescence of widely spaced flowers on long pedicels, the longest over nine centimeters long. The flowers are usually deep brilliant blue. The upper two petals may be milky white. The spur exceeds two centimeters in length in the largest of the flowers. This plant is toxic as suggested by the common names, but most larkspur species are toxic to some degree.
Delphinium variegatum is a species of larkspur known by the common name royal larkspur. It is endemic to California, where it grows in mountains, valley and coast in woodlands and grasslands. On the forest floor of California oak woodlands typical plant associates are Calochortus luteus, Cynoglossum grande and Calochortus amabilis.
Delphinium bicolour is a species of larkspur known as little larkspur and low larkspur. It is native to northwestern North America from British Columbia to South Dakota, where it grows in mountain forests and foothill scrub and prairie. This is a perennial herb growing from a thickly branching root system. It produces solitary stems to 40 centimetres (16 in) in height and green with reddish bases. Most of the leaves are low on the stem and grow on short petioles. They are several centimeters long with many rounded lobes. The small inflorescence holds a few large flowers per stem. The flower has dark purple-blue sepals each about 2 centimeters long and a spur of 1 to 2 centimeters. The plant is poisonous to cattle, less so to sheep, and it is occasionally eaten by various species of wild cervids.
Delphinium polycladon is a species of larkspur known by the common name mountain marsh larkspur. It is native to the High Sierra Nevada and the White and Inyo Mountains of eastern California and far western Nevada, where it grows in wet sites in the talus. It is a perennial herb producing one or more erect stems which easily exceed a meter in height but often remain dwarfed in high-elevation, exposed habitat with thin soils. The leaves are small and mostly located near the base of the plant. The inflorescence is a raceme of up to 35 flowers on long, S-shaped pedicels, often arranged along one side of the stem. The sepals are deep blue to purple, one to two centimeters long, and with a spur up to 2 centimeters in length.
Delphinium scopulorum, commonly known as Rocky Mountain larkspur, is a species of wildflower in the genus Delphinium, which belongs to the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is native to the Southwestern United States and found predominantly in upper-elevation moist meadows.
Delphinium barbeyi is a species of flowering plant in the buttercup family known by the common names subalpine larkspur, tall larkspur, and Barbey's larkspur. It is native to the interior western United States, where it occurs in the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming.
Delphinium occidentale, the western larkspur, is a perennial plant in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) with purple flowers. It grows along streambanks and moist areas of the Great Basin in Nevada and Utah.
Delphinium geyeri is a species of plant in the Ranunculaceae family that is often called by the common names plains larkspur or foothills larkspur. It is infamous for causing the deaths of cattle grazing in the spring because it is especially poisonous before it flowers and so it is also called poisonweed by ranchers. It is a medium to tall plant that has very striking blue flowers and is occasionally grown in native plant gardens for this reason. It grows mainly in Wyoming with large population in northern Colorado, northeastern Utah, and parts of Nebraska.
