Plant Name
Scientific Name: Delphinium scaposum
Synonym: Delphinium andersonii var. scaposum
Common Names: Tall Mountain Larkspur, Barestem Larkspur, Naked Delphinium
Plant Characteristics
Duration: Perennial
Growth Habit: Herb/Forb
Arizona Native Status: Native
Habitat: Desert. It grows in the mountain foothills and on rocky hillsides in the desert.
Flower Color: Royal blue
Flowering Season: Spring
Height: To 32 inches (81 cm) tall
Description: The flowers are loosely clustered on tall, slender, leafless flower stalks. The individual flowers are 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide and have 1 white petal, 3 blue petals, 5 blue, petal-like sepals, and a long, rear-projecting spur. The leaves are green, basal, and palmately divided into round-tipped lobes.
Other, similar Delphinium species either have paler flowers or grow in pine forests at higher elevations.
Special Characteristics
Poisonous – All parts of the plant are poisonous and contain toxic diterpenoid alkaloids, including ajacine and delphinine.
Classification
Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Magnoliidae
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae – Buttercup family
Genus: Delphinium L. – larkspur
Species: Delphinium scaposum Greene – tall mountain larkspur
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