Flora of North America species comparison

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Delphinium luteum

golden larkspur, yellow larkspur
Stems

20-40(-55) cm;

base often reddish, nearly 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).
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.
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.
Fruits

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

unwinged;

seed coat cell surfaces smooth.

Delphinium luteum
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]
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.)
Source FNA vol. 3.
Parent taxa Ranunculaceae > Delphinium > sect. Diedropetala > subsect. Bicoloria
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
Name authority A. Heller: Bull. S. Calif. Acad. Sci. 6: 68. (1903)
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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