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 novomexicanum

golden larkspur, yellow larkspur

New Mexico larkspur, White Mountain larkspur
Stems

20-40(-55) cm;

base often reddish, nearly glabrous.

90-180(-250) cm;

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

(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 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 (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

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

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

unwinged;

seed coat cell surfaces smooth.

wing-margined;

seed coat cells elongate, surfaces ± roughened.
2n

= 16.

Delphinium luteum

Delphinium novomexicanum
Phenology Flowering late winter-mid spring. Flowering summer to early autumn.
Habitat Wet cliffs, coastal grassland or chaparral Meadows in coniferous forest
Elevation 0-50 m (0-200 ft) 2200-3900 m (7200-12800 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
NM
[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.)

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. Bicoloria Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Exaltata
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. 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. sierrae-blancae
Name authority A. Heller: Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 6: 68. (1903) 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).



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

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