Delphinium cardinale

Cardinal or scarlet larkspur, Cardinal Or Scarlet Larkspur

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Cardinal larkspur is a California native perennial found in southern coastal ranges, southwestern California, and the western edge of the Sonoran Desert on rocky slopes and talus in chaparral at elevations of 300 to 1,500 meters. Flowering from February to July, this plant produces brilliant red flowers with yellow lower petals, arranged in distinctive clusters with sepals pointing forward. Growing with tall stems 30 to 270 centimeters high that are curly-puberulent and firmly attached to a deeply branched root system, it develops complex, multi-lobed leaves with 5 to 27 distinct segments. Its basal leaves are nearly glabrous, with intricate leaf structures that can be present or absent during flowering. The fruit develops as a slender 12 to 18 millimeter pod with bumpy seeds.

Habitat: Slopes, generally talus, chaparral

Bloom period: Feb-Jul

Elevation: 300-1500 m

Bioregions: SCoR, SW, w edge DSon

California counties: San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Ventura, Riverside, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Alameda, San Benito

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.