Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Delphinium luteum

Delphinium menziesii

golden larkspur, yellow larkspur

Menzies' larkspur
Stems

20-40(-55) cm;

base often reddish, nearly glabrous.

(10-)35-70(-85) cm;

base often reddish, puberulent.
Leaves

blade round to pentagonal, 1-5 × 2-10 cm, nearly glabrous; ultimate lobes 3-5, width 8-30 mm (basal), 5-15 mm (cauline).

blade round, 1.5-5 × 3-9 cm, puberulent; ultimate lobes 5-18, width 2-15 mm (basal), 1-10 mm (cauline), widest at middle or in proximal 1/2.
Inflorescences

5-25(-37)-flowered;

pedicel (1-)3-5(-7) cm, puberulent;

bracteoles 6-10(-17) mm from flowers, green, linear-lanceolate, 6-7 mm, nearly glabrous.

3-15(-43)-flowered;

pedicel 1.5-4(-7) cm, (glandular) puberulent;

bracteoles 8-10(-24) mm from flowers, green to blue, linear, 4-6(-9) mm, puberulent.
Flowers

sepals bright yellow, puberulent, appearing waxy, lateral sepals ± forward pointing, (11-)14-16 × (6-)9-13 mm, spur straight, ca. 30° below horizontal, 11-20 mm;

lower petal blades elevated, exposing stamens, 3-4 mm, clefts 0.5-1.5 mm;

hairs sparse or absent, ± evenly distributed if present, white to yellow.

sepals bluish purple or yellowish, often partly fading upon drying, puberulent, lateral sepals spreading, (11-)13-20 × 5-11 mm, spurs straight, ascending less than 30° above horizontal, 11-17 mm;

lower petal blades ± covering stamens, 8-12 mm, clefts 0.2-2.5 mm;

hairs sparse, centered, mostly near junction of blade and claw above base of cleft, white or blue.
Fruits

11-14 mm, 3.5-4.5 times longer than wide, glabrous.

11-17 mm, 3.5-4 times longer than wide, puberulent.
Seeds

unwinged;

seed coat cell surfaces smooth.

wing-margined;

seed coat cell surfaces smooth, without swollen blunt hair.

Delphinium luteum

Delphinium menziesii
Phenology Flowering late winter-mid spring.
Habitat Wet cliffs, coastal grassland or chaparral
Elevation 0-50 m (0-200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Of conservation concern.

Delphinium luteum is presently known from only three populations. It is known to hybridize with D. decorum and with D. nudicaule. Populations of D. hesperium subsp. hesperium also occur at the type locality; D. luteum flowers earlier and hybrids are not known.

Delphinium luteum is not likely to be mistaken for any other species of Delphinium. It has been treated as a variety of D. nudicaule and is closely related to that species. Sepals of the infrequent yellow-flowered phase of D. nudicaule, however, have a much drabber appearance compared with the bright shining yellow of the sepals in D. luteum.

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

Subspecies 2 (2 in the flora).

Although Delphinium menziesii has often been confused with D. nuttallii, it may be distinguished by its consistently larger flowers and usually fewer flowers per plant. Interestingly, each species produces both blue-purple and yellowish flower colors in separate populations.

The Chehalis consider Delphinium menziesii poisonous, but they also apply it to sores. The women of the Thompson Indians use it as a love charm (D. E. Moerman 1986, subspecies not indicated).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Sepals blue to purple.
subsp. menziesii
1. Sepals yellowish to white.
subsp. pallidum
Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Bicoloria Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Grumosa
Sibling taxa
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. 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. 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
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. multiplex, D. newtonianum, D. novomexicanum, 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
Subordinate taxa
D. menziesii subsp. menziesii, D. menziesii subsp. pallidum
Name authority A. Heller: Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 6: 68. (1903) de Candolle: Syst. Nat. 1: 355. (1817)
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).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Fabaceae, Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers