Delphinium stachydeum
Encyclopedia
Delphinium stachydeum is a species of larkspur
known by the common name spiked larkspur. It is native to the Pacific Northwest
and Great Basin
of the United States, where it grows in sagebrush
scrub and along the edges of mountain forest habitat where it meets prairie and plateau. It is a perennial herb producing at least one erect, slightly hairy stem generally exceeding a meter in height. The multilobed leaves are located mainly on the lower half of the stem except for the area just above ground level. The inflorescence
is a branching array of usually more than 30 flowers, each held on a long pedicel
. The flower has bright blue sepal
s around a centimeter long fringed with hairs and surrounding smaller, paler petals. The spur at the back of the flower is just over a centimeter in length.
Delphinium
Delphinium is a genus of about 300 species of perennial flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The common name, larkspur, is shared with the closely related genus Consolida...
known by the common name spiked larkspur. It is native to the Pacific Northwest
Pacific Northwest
The Pacific Northwest is a region in northwestern North America, bounded by the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains on the east. Definitions of the region vary and there is no commonly agreed upon boundary, even among Pacific Northwesterners. A common concept of the...
and Great Basin
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic watersheds in North America and is noted for its arid conditions and Basin and Range topography that varies from the North American low point at Badwater Basin to the highest point of the contiguous United States, less than away at the...
of the United States, where it grows in sagebrush
Sagebrush
Sagebrush is a common name of a number of shrubby plant species in the genus Artemisia native to western North America;Or, the sagebrush steppe ecoregion, having one or more kinds of sagebrush, bunchgrasses and others;...
scrub and along the edges of mountain forest habitat where it meets prairie and plateau. It is a perennial herb producing at least one erect, slightly hairy stem generally exceeding a meter in height. The multilobed leaves are located mainly on the lower half of the stem except for the area just above ground level. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is a branching array of usually more than 30 flowers, each held on a long pedicel
Pedicel (botany)
A pedicel is a stem that attaches single flowers to the main stem of the inflorescence. It is the branches or stalks that hold each flower in an inflorescence that contains more than one flower....
. The flower has bright blue sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
s around a centimeter long fringed with hairs and surrounding smaller, paler petals. The spur at the back of the flower is just over a centimeter in length.