Delphinium nuttallianum |
Ranunculaceae |
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dwarf, meadow, Nuttall's larkspur, or Sonne's larkspur, slim, thin-petal larkspur, two-lobe larkspur, upland larkspur |
buttercup family, crowfoot family |
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Habit | Herbs, sometimes woody or herbaceous climbers or low shrubs, perennial or annual, often rhizomatous. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | unbranched, 10-40(-70) cm; base reddish, pubescence variable. |
unarmed. |
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Leaves | blade round, 1-6 × 2-12 cm, nearly glabrous; ultimate lobes 5-21, 5 or more extending more than 3/5 distance to petiole, width 1-7(-14) mm (basal), 0.5-6 mm (cauline), widest at middle or in proximal 1/2. |
blade undivided or more commonly divided or compound, base cordate, sometimes truncate or cuneate, margins entire, toothed, or incised; venation pinnate or palmate. |
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Inflorescences | 4-18(-48)-flowered, at least 2 times as long as wide; pedicel 0.8-6 cm, pubescence variable; bracteoles 3-8(-18) mm from flowers, green to blue, linear, 3-7 mm, pubescence variable. |
terminal or axillary, racemes, cymes, umbels, panicles, or spikes, or flowers solitary, flowers pedicellate or sessile. |
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Flowers | sepals usually bluish purple, rarely white to pink, puberulent, lateral sepals reflexed or spreading, 8-21 × 3-10 mm, spurs decurved to straight, ascending 20-60° above horizontal, 8-23 mm; lower petal blades elevated, exposing stamens, blue to purple, except sometimes in white-flowered plants, 4-11 mm, clefts 2-5 mm; hairs mostly on inner lobes below junction of blade and claw, white, rarely yellow. |
bisexual, sometimes unisexual, inconspicuous or showy, radially or bilaterally symmetric; sepaloid bracteoles absent; perianth hypogynous; sepals usually imbricate, 3-6(-20), distinct, often petaloid and colored, occasionally spurred; petals 0-26, distinct (connate in Consolida), plane, cup-shaped, funnel-shaped, or spurred, conspicuous or greatly reduced; nectary usually present, rarely absent; stamens 5-many, distinct; anthers dehiscing longitudinally; staminodes absent (except in Aquilegia and Clematis); pistils 1-many; styles present or absent, often persistent in fruit as beak. |
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Fruits | 7-22 mm, 3.5-5 times longer than wide, glabrous to puberulent. |
achenes, follicles, or rarely utricles, capsules, or berries, often aggregated into globose to cylindric heads. |
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Seeds | winged or not; seed coat cell surfaces smooth or roughened, blunt hairs absent. |
1-many per ovary, never stalked, not arillate; endosperm abundant; embryo usually small. |
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2n | = 16. |
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Delphinium nuttallianum |
Ranunculaceae |
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Phenology | Flowering spring (-early summer). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Open coniferous woods, grassy sage scrub, meadow edges and well drained streamsides (generally not in very wet sites) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Elevation | 300-3500 m (1000-11500 ft) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; ID; MT; NM; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY; BC
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Worldwide |
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Discussion | Delphinium nuttallianum represents an extremely difficult complex, with many variations in a number of morphologic traits. The complex has been and continues to be a major source of confusion for identification of Delphinium in North America. Type specimens of D. nuttallianum represent plants growing under dry conditions in open areas. These are typically found at 1200-2000 m in sage scrub or lower montane forest. Delphinium nuttallianum may be confused with D. andersonii, D. antoninum, D. depauperatum, D. gracilentum, and two subspecies of D. patens (subsp. patens and subsp. montanum). Features that may be used to separate D. nuttallianum from the first four, are enumerated under the respective species discussions. From D. patens subsp. patens, D. nuttallianum may be distinguished by its narrower leaf lobes, larger fruits, and more compact inflorescence. The frequent presence of glandular hairs in the inflorescence of D. patens subsp. montanum, contrasted with their absence in D. nuttallianum, will separate these taxa. Dwarfed plants of D. polycladon may be confused with D. nuttallianum. The latter, however may be distinguished by its ringed seeds, and it does not have prominent buds or sigmoid pedicel. Hybrids have been seen between Delphinium nuttallianum and D. andersonii, D. depauperatum (D. ×burkei Greene), D. distichum (D. ×diversicolor Rydberg), D. nudicaule, and D. polycladon. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Genera ca. 60, species 1700 (22 genera, 284 species in the flora). The flowers of many species of Ranunculaceae begin to open long before anthesis, while the floral organs are just partly expanded. Only mature flowers with open anthers should be used for determination of diagnostic characteristics (especially measurements). The literature is inconsistent about the term for the whorl of organs between sepals and stamens; these may be conspicuous and petaloid, or reduced to stalked nectaries, or intermediate between the two states. They have been called petals, honey-leaves, or (when they are inconspicuous) staminodes or nectaries. We follow M. Tamura (1993) and treat as petals all organs between the sepals and stamens, except in Clematis and Aquilegia where they usually bear rudimentary anthers and clearly represent staminodes. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 3. | FNA vol. 3, p. 85. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Grumosa | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | D. pauciflorum, D. nuttallianum var. fulvum, D. nuttallianum var. levicaule, D. sonnei | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Pritzel: in Walpers, Repert. Bot. Syst. 1: 744. (1842) | Jussieu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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