California Larkspur

Delphinium californicum can be confused only with D . glaucum or D . exaltatum . The three species may be separated by the abundant pubescence and early flowering date of D . californicum as compared to the other two taxa, low elevation sites of D . californicum compared to D . glaucum , and western geographic distribution of D . californicum compared to D . exaltatum .

Stems (60-)100-160(-230) cm; base reddish, puberulent-glabrous. Leaves cauline, 6-20, absent from proximal 1/5 of stem at anthesis; petiole 0.5-7 cm. Leaf blade pentagonal to round, 3-9 × 3-12 cm, puberulent; ultimate lobes 3-15, width 5-60 mm; midcauline leaf lobes less than 3 times longer than wide. Inflorescences (16-)40-90(-162)-flowered; pedicel 0.5-2.5(-6.5) cm, puberulent; bracteoles 2-5 mm from flowers, reddish, linear, (3-)7-12(-15) mm, puberulent. Flowers: sepals lavender to greenish white, abaxially puberulent, lateral sepals forward pointing to form a pseudotube, 6-11 × 5-7 mm, spurs straight, slightly ascending, apically downcurved, 7-11(-14) mm; lower petal blades elevated, ± exposing stamens, 3-5 mm, clefts 1.5-2.5 mm; hairs covering adaxial surface, white or light yellow. Fruits 11-16 mm, 2.5-3.5 times longer than wide, glabrous to sparsely puberulent. Seeds unwinged; seed coat cells elongate, surfaces ± roughened.

Delphinium californicum is a species of larkspur known as California larkspur. This wildflower is endemic to California, where it is a resident of the chaparral slopes of the San Francisco Bay Area and Central Coast.

It has a long root from which it erects tall stems, usually exceeding a meter in height and often approaching two meters. The leaves arise on long petioles and are each divided into as many as 15 fingerlike pointed lobes. The top of the stem is occupied with a very large inflorescence usually containing over 50 flowers.

Each flower rises on a pedicel several centimeters long. The sepals point forward to make a cup out of the mouth of the somewhat tubular flower. The longest sepals are about a centimeter long and the spur of the flower may approach two centimeters in length. The flower is generally white to greenish white to light lavender.