FNA: Delphinium leucophaeum vs. Delphinium novomexicanum

	Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum (synonym of Delphinium leucophaeum)	Delphinium novomexicanum
	pale larkspur, white rock larkspur	New Mexico larkspur, White Mountain larkspur
Stems	30-60 cm.	90-180(-250) cm; base usually green, glabrous.
Leaves		blade round to pentagonal, 5-10 × 8-18 cm, nearly glabrous; ultimate lobes 5-21, width 4-15 mm.
Inflorescences		(20-)30-70(-140)-flowered; pedicel 0.5-1.5 cm, puberulent; bracteoles 1-3 mm from flowers, green, linear, 5-8 mm, puberulent.
Flowers	sepals white or light yellow, spurs 9-11 mm; lower petal blades 4-6 mm.	sepals (in bud) purple to lavender, fading brownish, puberulent, lateral sepals ± forward pointing, 7-11 × 4-5 mm, spurs straight to gently decurved, ascending 30-45° above horizontal, 7-11 mm; lower petal blades ± covering stamens, 3.5-6 mm, clefts 1-2 mm; hairs mostly centered between base of cleft and junction of blade and claw, white or yellow.
Fruits		12-16 mm, 3-4 times longer than wide, puberulent.
Seeds		wing-margined; seed coat cells elongate, surfaces ± roughened.
2n	= 16.	= 16.

	Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum	Delphinium novomexicanum
Phenology	Flowering late spring.	Flowering summer to early autumn.
Habitat	Rock outcrops, rocky meadows	Meadows in coniferous forest
Elevation	50-100 m (200-300 ft)	2200-3900 m (7200-12800 ft)
Distribution	OR [WildflowerSearch map]	NM [BONAP county map]
Discussion	Of conservation concern. The range of morphologic features of Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum (D. leucophaeum) is almost completely encompassed within that of D. nuttallii subsp. nuttallii. Sepal color is the only feature consistently separating the two subspecies. Were it not for the fact that any given population typically has plants of only one flower color, a rank of forma would be more appropriate. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)	Delphinium novomexicanum represents the southern Cordilleran complex in the Sacramento and White mountains. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source	FNA vol. 3.	FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa	Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Grumosa > Delphinium nuttallii	Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Exaltata
Sibling taxa	D. nuttallii subsp. nuttallii, D. nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum	D. alabamicum, D. alpestre, D. andersonii, D. andesicola, D. antoninum, D. bakeri, D. barbeyi, D. basalticum, D. bicolor, D. brachycentrum, D. californicum, D. cardinale, D. carolinianum, D. decorum, D. depauperatum, D. distichum, D. elatum, D. exaltatum, D. geraniifolium, D. geyeri, D. glareosum, D. glaucescens, D. glaucum, D. gracilentum, D. gypsophilum, D. hansenii, D. hesperium, D. hutchinsoniae, D. inopinum, D. lineapetalum, D. luteum, D. madrense, D. menziesii, D. multiplex, D. newtonianum, D. nudicaule, D. nuttallianum, D. nuttallii, D. parishii, D. parryi, D. patens, D. polycladon, D. purpusii, D. ramosum, D. recurvatum, D. robustum, D. sapellonis, D. scaposum, D. scopulorum, D. stachydeum, D. sutherlandii, D. treleasei, D. tricorne, D. trolliifolium, D. uliginosum, D. umbraculorum, D. variegatum, D. viridescens, D. wootonii, D. xantholeucum
Synonyms	D. menziesii var. (ß) ochroleucum, D. leucophaeum	D. sierrae-blancae
Name authority	(Nuttall) M. J. Warnock: Phytologia 78: 98. (1995)	Wooton: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 37: 37. (1910)
Web links	Local floras: OR, WA Local Web sites: Flora NW, PNW Herbaria WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search	WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum

(synonym of Delphinium leucophaeum)

Delphinium novomexicanum

pale larkspur, white rock larkspur

New Mexico larkspur, White Mountain larkspur

Stems

30-60 cm.

90-180(-250) cm;

base usually green, glabrous.

Leaves

blade round to pentagonal, 5-10 × 8-18 cm, nearly glabrous; ultimate lobes 5-21, width 4-15 mm.

Inflorescences

(20-)30-70(-140)-flowered;

pedicel 0.5-1.5 cm, puberulent;

bracteoles 1-3 mm from flowers, green, linear, 5-8 mm, puberulent.

Flowers

sepals white or light yellow, spurs 9-11 mm;

lower petal blades 4-6 mm.

sepals (in bud) purple to lavender, fading brownish, puberulent, lateral sepals ± forward pointing, 7-11 × 4-5 mm, spurs straight to gently decurved, ascending 30-45° above horizontal, 7-11 mm;

lower petal blades ± covering stamens, 3.5-6 mm, clefts 1-2 mm;

hairs mostly centered between base of cleft and junction of blade and claw, white or yellow.

Fruits

12-16 mm, 3-4 times longer than wide, puberulent.

Seeds

wing-margined;

seed coat cells elongate, surfaces ± roughened.

= 16.

Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum

Delphinium novomexicanum

Phenology

Flowering late spring.

Flowering summer to early autumn.

Habitat

Rock outcrops, rocky meadows

Meadows in coniferous forest

Elevation

50-100 m (200-300 ft)

2200-3900 m (7200-12800 ft)

Distribution

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Of conservation concern.

The range of morphologic features of Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum (D. leucophaeum) is almost completely encompassed within that of D. nuttallii subsp. nuttallii. Sepal color is the only feature consistently separating the two subspecies. Were it not for the fact that any given population typically has plants of only one flower color, a rank of forma would be more appropriate.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Delphinium novomexicanum represents the southern Cordilleran complex in the Sacramento and White mountains.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source

FNA vol. 3.

Parent taxa

Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Grumosa > Delphinium nuttallii

Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Exaltata

Sibling taxa

D. nuttallii subsp. nuttallii, D. nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum

D. alabamicum, D. alpestre, D. andersonii, D. andesicola, D. antoninum, D. bakeri, D. barbeyi, D. basalticum, D. bicolor, D. brachycentrum, D. californicum, D. cardinale, D. carolinianum, D. decorum, D. depauperatum, D. distichum, D. elatum, D. exaltatum, D. geraniifolium, D. geyeri, D. glareosum, D. glaucescens, D. glaucum, D. gracilentum, D. gypsophilum, D. hansenii, D. hesperium, D. hutchinsoniae, D. inopinum, D. lineapetalum, D. luteum, D. madrense, D. menziesii, D. multiplex, D. newtonianum, D. nudicaule, D. nuttallianum, D. nuttallii, D. parishii, D. parryi, D. patens, D. polycladon, D. purpusii, D. ramosum, D. recurvatum, D. robustum, D. sapellonis, D. scaposum, D. scopulorum, D. stachydeum, D. sutherlandii, D. treleasei, D. tricorne, D. trolliifolium, D. uliginosum, D. umbraculorum, D. variegatum, D. viridescens, D. wootonii, D. xantholeucum

Synonyms

D. menziesii var. (ß) ochroleucum, D. leucophaeum

D. sierrae-blancae

Name authority

(Nuttall) M. J. Warnock: Phytologia 78: 98. (1995)

Wooton: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 37: 37. (1910)

Web links

Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

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Flora of North America species comparison

Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum

Delphinium novomexicanum

Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum

Delphinium novomexicanum