Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

PRAIRIE LARKSPUR

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Delphinium carolinianum Walt. subsp. virescens (Nutt. ) Brooks

[=Delphinium virescens Nutt.]

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Chase County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 1-4 feet

Family: Ranunculaceae - Buttercup Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Also Called:

Plains larkspur.

Stems:

Erect, stout, 1 to several, sparsely branched or unbranched, soft-hairy, some hairs glandular.

Leaves:

Alternate, lower long-stalked, often crowded, upper nearly sessile, somewhat rounded in outline, 1 to 3 inches long, 1/2 to 1 inch wide, deeply palmately divided, 3-7-lobed; lobes further divided into linear-lanceolate segments, pubescent; tips pointed.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, spike-like, 4 to 10 inches long, 5-50-flowered.

Flowers:

Calyces 5-parted, sepals petal-like, white to bluish, uppermost sepal extending backward as horizontal spur 1/2 to 3/4 inch long; petals 4, whitish, upper 2 petals extending backward into sepal spur, lower 2 petals bearded; stamens numerous.

Fruits:

Groups of 3 pods, erect, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, minutely pubescent; seeds numerous, scaly, brown.

Habitat:

Open prairies, pastures, and hillsides, in all soil types.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Toxicity:

Prairie larkspur is poisonous to cattle, which find it palatable. Horses and sheep are less inclined to eat it. All parts of the plant are toxic, whether fresh or dried in hay. Poisoning can result in impairment of the nervous system and respiratory failure.

Comments:

"Larkspur" refers to the resemblance of the flower to the spur on the foot of a lark.

Prairie larkspur inflorescence