Flora of North America species comparison

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Delphinium parryi

Parry's larkspur, San Bernardino larkspur

Stems

(10-)40-80(-110) cm;

base reddish, puberulent.

Leaves

blade pentagonal, 1-7 × 2-10 cm, ± puberulent; ultimate lobes 3-27, width 1-20 mm (basal), 0.5-5 mm (cauline).

Inflorescences

(2-)8-24(-48)-flowered, cylindric;

pedicel ± spreading, (0.5-)1-3(-6.8) cm, usually puberulent;

bracteoles 2-7(-16) mm from flowers, green to blue, lance-linear, 2-6(-10) mm, puberulent.

Flowers

sepals dark blue to bluish purple, puberulent, lateral sepals spreading or reflexed, (7-)10-20(-25) × 4-9 mm, spurs straight, ascending 0-30° above horizontal, 9-17(-21) mm;

lower petal blades slightly elevated, ± exposing stamens, 3-10 mm, clefts 2-6 mm;

hairs mostly near base of cleft, centered or on inner lobes, white.

Fruits

10-19 mm, 2.8-4 times longer than wide, puberulent or glabrous.

Seeds

seed coat cells ± brick-shaped, cell margins undulate, surfaces ± roughened.

Delphinium parryi

Distribution

North America (Calif)

[WildflowerSearch map]

[BONAP county map]

Discussion

Subspecies 5 (5 in the flora).

A number of local phases are found in Delphinium parryi. Five of these appear consistently distinct and are recognized here. Other phases may be locally distinct but grade into other nearby phases. Delphinium parryi hybridizes with D. cardinale (D. ×inflexum Davidson).

The Kawaiisu used the ground root of Delphinium parryi medicinally as a salve for swollen limbs (D. E. Moerman 1986, no subspecies specified).

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

Key

1. Basal leaves usually absent at anthesis.	→ 2
1. Basal leaves usually present at anthesis.	→ 3
2. Lateral sepals 16–25 mm.	subsp. blochmaniae
2. Lateral sepals 9–15 mm.	subsp. parryi
3. Lateral sepals 7–11 mm; above 700 m elevation.	subsp. purpureum
3. Lateral sepals (9–)12–20 mm; below 700 m elevation.	→ 4
4. Sepals usually reflexed.	subsp. eastwoodiae
4. Sepals usually spreading.	subsp. maritimum

Source

FNA vol. 3.

Parent taxa

Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Subscaposa

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. luteum, D. madrense, D. menziesii, D. multiplex, D. newtonianum, D. novomexicanum, D. nudicaule, D. nuttallianum, D. nuttallii, D. parishii, 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. parryi subsp. blochmaniae, D. parryi subsp. eastwoodiae, D. parryi subsp. maritimum, D. parryi subsp. parryi, D. parryi subsp. purpureum

Name authority

A. Gray: Bot. Gaz. 12: 53. (1887)

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).

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