Delphinium andersonii |
Ranunculaceae |
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Anderson larkspur, Anderson's larkspur, desert larkspur |
buttercup family, crowfoot family |
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Habit | Herbs, sometimes woody or herbaceous climbers or low shrubs, perennial or annual, often rhizomatous. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | (20-)30-60(-90) cm; base reddish, glabrous. |
unarmed. |
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Leaves | blade round, 1.5-4 × 2-6 cm, nearly glabrous; ultimate lobes 5-30, width 2-8 mm (basal), 1-4 mm (cauline); lobe width of proximal leaves less than 4 mm. |
blade undivided or more commonly divided or compound, base cordate, sometimes truncate or cuneate, margins entire, toothed, or incised; venation pinnate or palmate. |
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Inflorescences | 10-25-flowered, cylindric; pedicel sigmoid (proximally spreading, distally ascending), 1-4(-6.8) cm, glabrous to puberulent; bracteoles 2-6(-8) mm from flowers, green, linear, 4-6(-11) mm, ± puberulent. |
terminal or axillary, racemes, cymes, umbels, panicles, or spikes, or flowers solitary, flowers pedicellate or sessile. |
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Flowers | sepals dark blue, nearly glabrous, lateral sepals spreading to reflexed, 9-16 × 3-7 mm, spurs horizontal to slightly ascending, often decurved apically, 12-18 mm; lower petal blades elevated, ± exposing stamens, 4-8 mm, clefts 1-4 mm; hairs centered, mostly between claw and base of cleft, white. |
bisexual, sometimes unisexual, inconspicuous or showy, radially or bilaterally symmetric; sepaloid bracteoles absent; perianth hypogynous; sepals usually imbricate, 3-6(-20), distinct, often petaloid and colored, occasionally spurred; petals 0-26, distinct (connate in Consolida), plane, cup-shaped, funnel-shaped, or spurred, conspicuous or greatly reduced; nectary usually present, rarely absent; stamens 5-many, distinct; anthers dehiscing longitudinally; staminodes absent (except in Aquilegia and Clematis); pistils 1-many; styles present or absent, often persistent in fruit as beak. |
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Fruits | 17-32 mm, 4-5.5 times longer than wide, glabrous. |
achenes, follicles, or rarely utricles, capsules, or berries, often aggregated into globose to cylindric heads. |
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Seeds | seed coat cells ± brick-shaped, cell margins ± undulate, surfaces smooth. |
1-many per ovary, never stalked, not arillate; endosperm abundant; embryo usually small. |
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2n | = 16. |
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Delphinium andersonii |
Ranunculaceae |
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Phenology | Flowering late spring–early summer. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Talus, cold desert scrub, often growing up through shrubs, low places where snow collects | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 1300-2000 m (4300-6600 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
CA; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT
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Worldwide |
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Discussion | In much of its range Delphinium andersonii hybridizes occasionally with members of the D. nuttallianum complex and apparently with D. parishii in at least one site in California. These three taxa, with D. scaposum, form an interesting group in that they appear to be ecological replacements for one another, with D. parishii occupying arid, hot deserts to the south and southwest, D. andersonii growing in cooler, higher latitude and altitude deserts farther north, D. scaposum in cool deserts farther east, and D. nuttallianum at higher elevations in much of the geographic range of the other three species. Delphinium andersonii is often mistaken for D. nuttallianum. Most individuals of D. andersonii (roots much larger and more fibrous; stems solidly attached to roots; fruits long, narrow, erect; inflorescences usually longer and narrower at base; and pedicel sigmoid) can easily be distinguished from D. nuttallianum (roots smaller and not fibrous; stems tenuously attached to roots; fruits shorter, proportionally thicker, spreading; inflorescences relatively shorter and wider at base; and pedicel nearly straight). Although roots of Delphinium andersonii are quite similar to those of D. antoninum, the two taxa may be readily distinguished by most features that separate D. nuttallianum from D. andersonii. The name Delphinium menziesii was misapplied to D. andersonii by S. Watson. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Genera ca. 60, species 1700 (22 genera, 284 species in the flora). The flowers of many species of Ranunculaceae begin to open long before anthesis, while the floral organs are just partly expanded. Only mature flowers with open anthers should be used for determination of diagnostic characteristics (especially measurements). The literature is inconsistent about the term for the whorl of organs between sepals and stamens; these may be conspicuous and petaloid, or reduced to stalked nectaries, or intermediate between the two states. They have been called petals, honey-leaves, or (when they are inconspicuous) staminodes or nectaries. We follow M. Tamura (1993) and treat as petals all organs between the sepals and stamens, except in Clematis and Aquilegia where they usually bear rudimentary anthers and clearly represent staminodes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3, p. 85. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Subscaposa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | D. andersonii subsp. cognatum | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | A. Gray: Bot. Gaz. 12: 53. (1887) | Jussieu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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