FNA: Delphinium leucophaeum vs. Delphinium purpusii

	Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum (synonym of Delphinium leucophaeum)	Delphinium purpusii
	pale larkspur, white rock larkspur	Kern County larkspur, Purpus' larkspur, rose-color larkspur, rose-flower larkspur
Stems	30-60 cm.	(30-)50-80(-120) cm; base reddish or not, nearly glabrous.
Leaves		blade round, 1.5-6 × 2-10 cm, ± puberulent; ultimate lobes 0-5, width 5-30(-50) mm (basal), 5-20(-40) mm (cauline).
Inflorescences		(8-)12-20(-32)-flowered, ± cylindric; pedicel ± ascending, (0.5-)1-4(-5) cm, glandular-puberulent; bracteoles 1-6 mm from flowers, green to magenta, linear, 2-4 mm, glandular-puberulent.
Flowers	sepals white or light yellow, spurs 9-11 mm; lower petal blades 4-6 mm.	sepals magenta to rose, nearly glabrous, lateral sepals reflexed, 10-16 × 3-7 mm, spurs straight, 30-45° above horizontal, (10-)14-19 mm; lower petal blades nearly coplanar with claws, exposing stamens, 3-4 mm, clefts 0.5-1.5 mm; hairs sparse, scattered, white.
Fruits		(11-)18-29 mm, 4-4.5 times longer than wide, glabrous.
Seeds		seed coats with small wavy ridges, cells brick-shaped, cell margins undulate, surfaces smooth.
2n	= 16.	= 16.

	Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum	Delphinium purpusii
Phenology	Flowering late spring.	Flowering spring.
Habitat	Rock outcrops, rocky meadows	Talus, cliffs, on and near large boulders
Elevation	50-100 m (200-300 ft)	300-1300 m (1000-4300 ft)
Distribution	OR [WildflowerSearch map]	CA [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.)	Of conservation concern. Delphinium purpusii is not likely to be confused with any other Delphinium in North America. Hybrids with Delphinium hansenii subsp. kernense are known to occur. (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. Subscaposa
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. novomexicanum, D. nudicaule, D. nuttallianum, D. nuttallii, D. parishii, D. parryi, D. patens, D. polycladon, 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
Name authority	(Nuttall) M. J. Warnock: Phytologia 78: 98. (1995)	Brandegee: Bot. Gaz. 27: 444. (1899)
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	Local floras: CA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos 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 purpusii

pale larkspur, white rock larkspur

Kern County larkspur, Purpus' larkspur, rose-color larkspur, rose-flower larkspur

Stems

30-60 cm.

(30-)50-80(-120) cm;

base reddish or not, nearly glabrous.

Leaves

blade round, 1.5-6 × 2-10 cm, ± puberulent; ultimate lobes 0-5, width 5-30(-50) mm (basal), 5-20(-40) mm (cauline).

Inflorescences

(8-)12-20(-32)-flowered, ± cylindric;

pedicel ± ascending, (0.5-)1-4(-5) cm, glandular-puberulent;

bracteoles 1-6 mm from flowers, green to magenta, linear, 2-4 mm, glandular-puberulent.

Flowers

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

lower petal blades 4-6 mm.

sepals magenta to rose, nearly glabrous, lateral sepals reflexed, 10-16 × 3-7 mm, spurs straight, 30-45° above horizontal, (10-)14-19 mm;

lower petal blades nearly coplanar with claws, exposing stamens, 3-4 mm, clefts 0.5-1.5 mm;

hairs sparse, scattered, white.

Fruits

(11-)18-29 mm, 4-4.5 times longer than wide, glabrous.

Seeds

seed coats with small wavy ridges, cells brick-shaped, cell margins undulate, surfaces smooth.

= 16.

Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum

Delphinium purpusii

Phenology

Flowering late spring.

Flowering spring.

Habitat

Rock outcrops, rocky meadows

Talus, cliffs, on and near large boulders

Elevation

50-100 m (200-300 ft)

300-1300 m (1000-4300 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.)

Of conservation concern.

Delphinium purpusii is not likely to be confused with any other Delphinium in North America. Hybrids with Delphinium hansenii subsp. kernense are known to occur.

(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. Subscaposa

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. novomexicanum, D. nudicaule, D. nuttallianum, D. nuttallii, D. parishii, D. parryi, D. patens, D. polycladon, 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

Name authority

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

Brandegee: Bot. Gaz. 27: 444. (1899)

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 purpusii

Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum

Delphinium purpusii