Plant Species: Delphinium nuttallianum, low larkspur
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta -- flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida -- dicotyledons
Order: Ranunculales
Family: Ranunculaceae -- buttercup
Genus: Delphinium
Species: nuttallianum
Variety:
Common Name: low larkspur, yellow pine larkspur
Species Code: DENU2
Origin: dry places in sagebrush steppe to dry open forest from British Columbia to California east to northern New Mexico and western Montana.
Rare: no
Form: forb, perennial, from a fleshy root; 15-40 cm tall, usually single stemmed, glabrous to pubescent.
Duration: perennial
Longevity: short
Habitat Type: prairie, shrub thickets, forest, wetland
Wetland Indicator Status: FAC
Leaves: alternate, mostly toward the base, reduced upward, long petiolate, blades palmately lobed.
Mature height: 6-16 inches
Flowers: borne in a terminal raceme, glabrous or pubescent; sepals showy, usually bluish purple, sometimes white or pink, puberulent; spur 13-20 mm long; lower petal blades white to yellow or brown with a purple tinge to purple, bilobed; upper petals bluish.
Flower color: purple to blue, rarely pink
Bloom: April, May, into June in cooler locations
Bloom starts on: mid April
Bloom ends on: late May
Fruit: follicle, 7-22 mm, glabrous to puberulent; seeds 1.5-2 mm long, gray to black, smooth or rough, winged or without a wing, shiny.
Vegetation type:
Characteristics:
Reproduces sexually by seed.
617,143 seeds/lb (USDA NRCS Pullman PMC 2005).
n=8 (Hitchcock et al 1969, Baldwin et al 2004, Flora of North America Editorial Committee 1993+).
Seed is not stored in the seed bank beyond one year (Williams & Cronin 1968).
Fruit is a follicle.
Flowers are perfect.
The sepals are the showy part of the flower.
Flowers are protandrous (Schulke and Waser 2001).
Pollinated by hummingbirds and bumblebees (Bosch and Waser 1999, Schulke and Waser 2001).
Broad-tailed and rufous hummingbirds and queen bumblebees of B. appositus and B. flavifrons are the main pollinators (Price & Waser 1979).
Toxic to cattle but not to sheep.
Comments: A highly variable species which includes what was sometimes separated as D. nelsonii.
Sun requirement: full sun to partial shade
Soil moisture: xeric to mesic
Precipitation:
Fire:
Hazards: poisonous
Sowing time: fall
Transplant time: fall
Stratification: extended cold moist
Seed yield: low
Seed harvest: difficult
Seed first harvest: 2+years
Seed cleaning: easy
Planting duration: short
Seed insect problem: none noted
Seed shatter: high
Seed size: small
Seed harvest date: June
Seed comments: indeterminate ripening, follicles must be collected as they open or seed will be lost
Herbaria:
Key words: forb upland native
Alternate Genus:
Alternate Species: nelsonii, nelsoni
Alternate Variety:
Propagation:
1 protocol in the Native Plant Network
Pullman WA Plant Materials Center
Other propagation information:
Needs 120 days cold moist stratification in the dark. Germinates at low temperatures (Nauman 2002).
Other Delphinium species require 13-19 weeks cold moist stratification (Young & Young 1986).
Seed requires 13-19 weeks of cold moist stratification. Germination occurs at cool temperatures under snow (Williams & Cronin 1968).
Reproduces sexually by seed.
Notes: Delphinium nuttallianum is a good early flower for the landscape. Not very easy to grow, but looks like it will reseed itself. Seeds need long stratification, might be best to fall sow seed in place. The flowers are nice, but the plant is rather scraggly. There is some seed on the market, but it is very expensive. Flowers in April. Common names include low larkspur, yellow pine larkspur, Nuttall’s larkspur, upland larkspur, Delphinium nelsonii (Skinner er al 2005).
References:
Baldwin, B.G., S. Boyd, B.J. Ertter, D.J. Keil, R.W. Patterson, T.J. Rosatti, and D.H. Wilken (eds). 2004. Jepson Online Interchange for California Floristics. University and Jepson Herbaria, University of California, Berkeley, CA. Accessed 8/15/09 online at http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/interchange.html
Bosch, Maria, and Nickolas M. Waser. 1999. Effects of Local Density on Pollination and Reproduction in Delphinium nuttallianum and Aconitum columbianum (Ranunculaceae). American Journal of Botany 86: 871-879.
Flora of North America Editorial Committee, eds. 1993+. Flora of North America North of Mexico. 7+ vols. New York and Oxford. Oxford University Press. Online at http://www.fna.org/FNA/
Guerrant, Edward O. 1982. Neotenic Evolution of Delphinium nudicale (Ranunculaceae): a Hummingbird-Pollinated Larkspur. Evolution 36: 699-712.
Hitchcock, C. Leo, Arthur Cronquist, Marion Ownbey, and J.W. Thompson. 1969. Vascular Plants of the Pacific Northwest. University of Washington Press. Seattle, WA. 5 vol.
Kohn, Joshua R., and Nickolas M. Waser. 1985. The Effect of Delphinium nelsonii Pollen on Seed Set in Ipomopsis aggregata, Competition for Hummingbird Pollination. American Journal of Botany 72:1144-1148.
Nauman, C. 2002. Germination of 12 Palouse Prairie Forbs After Stratification Under Light and Dark Treatments. M.S. Thesis, University of Idaho, Moscow ID.
Price, M.V., and N.M. Waser. 1979. Pollen Dispersal and Optimal Outcrossing in Delphinium nelsoni. Nature 277:294-297.
Schulke, Bradd, and Nickolas M. Waser. 2001. Long-distance Pollinator Flights and Pollen Dispersal Between Populations of Delphinium nuttallianum. Oecologia 127:239-245.
Skinner, David M., Paul Warnick, Bill French, and Mary Fauci. 2005.
Characteristics and Uses of Native Palouse Forbs in Landscaping.
USDA NRCS Pullman Plant Materials Center and Palouse Prairie Foundation.
Online at http://www.wsu.edu/pmc_nrcs/Docs/Forbs_for_Landscaping.pdf
USDA NRCS, Pullman Plant Materials Center. 2005. Seed Weights of Some Palouse Native Species. Pullman Plant Materials Center, Pullman, Washington. Online at http://www.wsu.edu/~pmc_nrcs/Docs/Seed_Weights_Palouse_Native_Species.pdf
Waser, Nickolas M., 1978. Competition for Hummingbird pollination and Sequential Flowering in Two Colorado Wildflowers. Ecology 59:934-944.
Waser, Nickolas M., and Mary V. Price. 1981. Pollinator Choice and Stabilizing Selection for Flower Color in Delphinium nelsonii. Evolution 35:376-390.
Waser, Nickolas M., and Mary V. Price. 1983. Pollinator Behavior and Natural Selection for Flower Colour in Delphinium nelsonii. Nature 302:422-424.
Waser, Nickolas M., and Mary V. Price. 1985. Reciprocal Transplant Experiments with Delphinium nelsonii (Ranunculaceae): Evidence for Local Adaptation. American Journal of Botany 72:1726-1732.
Waser, Nickolas M., and Randall J. Mitchell. 1990. Nectar Standing Crops in Delphinium nelsonii Flowers: Spatial Autocorrelation Among Plants? Ecology 71: 116-123.
Williams, M. Coburn, and Eugene H. Cronin. 1968. Dormancy, Longevity, and Germination of Seed of Three Larkspurs and Western False Hellebore. Weed Science 16:381-384.
Williams, Charles F., and Nickolas M. Waser. 1999. Spatial Genetic Structure of Delphinium nuttallianum Populations: Inferences About Gene Flow. Heredity 83:541-550.
Young, James A., and Cheryl G. Young. 1986. Collecting, Processing and Germinating Seeds of Wildland Plants. Timber Press, Portland, OR.