FNA: Delphinium leucophaeum vs. Delphinium ramosum

	Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum (synonym of Delphinium leucophaeum)	Delphinium ramosum
	pale larkspur, white rock larkspur	mountain larkspur
Stems	30-60 cm.	(45-)70-100 cm; base sometimes reddish, puberulent.
Leaves		blade round to pentagonal, 2-8 × 4-14 cm, nearly glabrous; ultimate lobes 5-21, width 1-5 mm; midcauline leaf lobes more than 3 times longer than wide.
Inflorescences		(10-)15-40(-120)-flowered; pedicel 1-2.5(-4) cm, puberulent; bracteoles 1-3 mm from flowers, green, sometimes margins white, linear or lanceolate, 3-5(-8) mm, puberulent.
Flowers	sepals white or light yellow, spurs 9-11 mm; lower petal blades 4-6 mm.	sepals bright dark blue, apex rounded, puberulent, lateral sepals forward pointing to spreading, 11-13 × 4-6 mm, spurs straight, ascending ca. 30° above horizontal, 9-13 mm; lower petal blades ± covering stamens, 5-7 mm, clefts 2-3 mm; hairs centered above base of cleft, white.
Fruits		11-17 mm, 3-4 times longer than wide, puberulent.
Seeds		wing-margined; seed coat cells narrow, short, surfaces roughened.
2n	= 16.	= 16.

	Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum	Delphinium ramosum
Phenology	Flowering late spring.	Flowering summer.
Habitat	Rock outcrops, rocky meadows	Meadows, aspen woodlands, Artemisia scrub
Elevation	50-100 m (200-300 ft)	2100-3200(-3400) m (6900-10500(-11200) ft)
Distribution	OR [WildflowerSearch map]	CO; NM [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 ramosum hybridizes with D. barbeyi and D. glaucum. (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. novomexicanum, D. nudicaule, D. nuttallianum, D. nuttallii, D. parishii, D. parryi, D. patens, D. polycladon, D. purpusii, 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)	Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 276. (1901)
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 ramosum

pale larkspur, white rock larkspur

mountain larkspur

Stems

30-60 cm.

(45-)70-100 cm;

base sometimes reddish, puberulent.

Leaves

blade round to pentagonal, 2-8 × 4-14 cm, nearly glabrous; ultimate lobes 5-21, width 1-5 mm;

midcauline leaf lobes more than 3 times longer than wide.

Inflorescences

(10-)15-40(-120)-flowered;

pedicel 1-2.5(-4) cm, puberulent;

bracteoles 1-3 mm from flowers, green, sometimes margins white, linear or lanceolate, 3-5(-8) mm, puberulent.

Flowers

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

lower petal blades 4-6 mm.

sepals bright dark blue, apex rounded, puberulent, lateral sepals forward pointing to spreading, 11-13 × 4-6 mm, spurs straight, ascending ca. 30° above horizontal, 9-13 mm;

lower petal blades ± covering stamens, 5-7 mm, clefts 2-3 mm;

hairs centered above base of cleft, white.

Fruits

11-17 mm, 3-4 times longer than wide, puberulent.

Seeds

wing-margined;

seed coat cells narrow, short, surfaces roughened.

= 16.

Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum

Delphinium ramosum

Phenology

Flowering late spring.

Flowering summer.

Habitat

Rock outcrops, rocky meadows

Meadows, aspen woodlands, Artemisia scrub

Elevation

50-100 m (200-300 ft)

2100-3200(-3400) m (6900-10500(-11200) ft)

Distribution

[WildflowerSearch map]

CO; NM

[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 ramosum hybridizes with D. barbeyi and D. glaucum.

(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. novomexicanum, D. nudicaule, D. nuttallianum, D. nuttallii, D. parishii, D. parryi, D. patens, D. polycladon, D. purpusii, 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)

Rydberg: Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 28: 276. (1901)

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 ramosum

Delphinium nuttallii subsp. ochroleucum

Delphinium ramosum