Delphinium hansenii |
Delphinium sect. Diedropetala |
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Eldorado larkspur, Hansen's delphinium, Hansen's larkspur |
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Roots | 2-80 cm, tuberlike or fibrous, dry or fleshy; buds often less than 3 mm. |
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Stems | (25-)40-80(-180) cm; base usually reddish, pubescent. |
1-8(-19) per root; base firmly attached to root or not. |
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Leaves | blade pentagonal, 1.5-5 × 2.5-8 cm, long-pubescent, especially abaxially; ultimate lobes 0-18, width 4-20 mm (basal), 2-9 mm (cauline). |
cauline and/or in basal rosette, gradually or abruptly reduced into bracts. |
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Inflorescences | (9-)15-40(-160)-flowered, dense to open; pedicel 0.3-2.5(-6) cm, puberulent; bracteoles 1-5(-8) mm from flowers, green, sometimes white-margined, linear-lanceolate, 2-6(-8) mm, puberulent. |
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Flowers | sepals violet to white, ± puberulent, lateral sepals spreading to forward pointing, 7-10(-13) × 3-6(-8) mm, spurs gently upcurved, ascending 0-30° above horizontal, (6-)9-13(-16) mm; lower petal blades elevated, ± exposing stamens, 3-7 mm, cleft 1-2(-4) mm; hairs centered, densest on inner lobes near base of cleft, white. |
sepals blue, purple, white, red, or yellow; lower petal blades often same color as lateral sepals, usually greater than 1/5 length of lateral sepals (exceptions in red- and yellow-flowered species). |
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Fruits | 8-20 mm, 2.2-4 times longer than wide, glabrous. |
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Seeds | echinate, appearing fuzzy to naked eye; seed coat cells with margins straight, surfaces sparsely pustulate. |
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Delphinium hansenii |
Delphinium sect. Diedropetala |
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Distribution |
CA
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Discussion | Subspecies 3 (3 in the flora). Although Delphinium hansenii has often been confused with D. hesperium, seeds will instantly allow identification. Seeds of Delphinium hansenii are, as far as known, unique, bearing numerous, elongate, prismlike raised structures (extensions of single cells or small groups of cells) over the entire seed coat. If seeds are absent, larger flowers, more open inflorescences (except in D. hesperium subsp. cuyamacae), and general absence of pubescence of long hairs in D. hesperium are apparent upon comparison of the two species. Separating D. hansenii from D. variegatum may also be difficult. Again, seeds leave no doubt. In addition, smaller flowers and greater number of flowers per plant of D. hansenii should serve to distinguish D. hansenii from D. variegatum. White-flowered D. hansenii has been confused with D. gypsophilum and with D. hesperium subsp. pallescens. Other than seeds, pubescence of long hairs and smaller flowers present in D. hansenii and absent in the others will distinguish them. (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. 197. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Echinata | Ranunculaceae > Delphinium | ||||||||
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Synonyms | D. hesperium var. hansenii | |||||||||
Name authority | (Greene) Greene: Pittonia 3: 94. (1896) | Huth: Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 20: 420. (1895) | ||||||||
Web links |