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umbrella larkspur

Roots

2-80 cm, tuberlike or fibrous, dry or fleshy;

buds often less than 3 mm.

Stems

40-70(-90) cm;

base often reddish, glabrous or puberulent.

1-8(-19) per root;

base firmly attached to root or not.

Leaves

blade round to pentagonal, 1.5-4 × 2-6 cm, nearly glabrous; ultimate lobes 3-13, width 3-20 mm (basal), 1-8 mm (cauline).

cauline and/or in basal rosette, gradually or abruptly reduced into bracts.

Inflorescences

(5-)10-25(-45)-flowered, open, narrowly pyramidal;

pedicel 0.5-3(-7) cm, glabrous to puberulent;

bracteoles 3-7 mm from flowers, green, linear, 3-6 mm, puberulent.

Flowers

sepals dark blue, puberulent, lateral sepals spreading, 9-16 × 4-7 mm, spurs gently upcurved, ascending 30-45° above horizontal, 8-14 mm;

lower petal blades elevated, exposing stamens, 3.5-6 mm, clefts 0.5-1.5 mm;

hairs densest near junction of blade and claw above base of cleft, centered or on inner lobes, white.

sepals blue, purple, white, red, or yellow;

lower petal blades often same color as lateral sepals, usually greater than 1/5 length of lateral sepals (exceptions in red- and yellow-flowered species).

Fruits

9-16(-19) mm, 2.5-3(-4) times longer than wide, puberulent.

Seeds

seed coat cells brick-shaped, cell margins straight, surfaces smooth.

2n

= 16.

Delphinium umbraculorum

Delphinium sect. Diedropetala

Phenology Flowering late spring–early summer.
Habitat Slopes in oak forests
Elevation 400-1600 m (1300-5200 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Delphinium umbraculorum is most often confused with D. patens subsp. hepaticoideum; refer to discussion of that taxon for distinguishing features. Hybrids occur with D. parryi and D. patens subsp. montanum.

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

Source FNA vol. 3. FNA vol. 3, p. 197.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Subscaposa Ranunculaceae > Delphinium
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. 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. variegatum, D. viridescens, D. wootonii, D. xantholeucum
Subordinate taxa
Name authority H. F. Lewis & Epling: Brittonia 8: 19. (1954) Huth: Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 20: 420. (1895)
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