Delphinium glaucum

Mountain, giant, or tall larkspur, Or Tall Larkspur

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Mountain larkspur is a California native perennial found in the Klamath Ranges, Sierra Nevada, and northern eastern Sierra Nevada in wet thickets and streambanks at elevations of 1,500 to 3,200 meters. Flowering from July to September, this plant produces purple-blue flowers with sepals 8 to 14 millimeters long and a distinctive spur 10 to 19 millimeters long. Growing with multiple stems 80 to 150 centimeters tall, appearing glaucous and glabrous with prominent rootstock buds. Its leaves are generally glabrous with multiple lobes wider than 6 millimeters, cut sharply at the tips. The plant forms dense clusters with over 50 flowers and produces bumpy seeds in fruits 9 to 20 millimeters long.

Habitat: Wet thickets, streambanks

Bloom period: Jul-Sep

Elevation: 1500-3200 m

Bioregions: KR, SNH, SnGb, SnBr, n SNE

California counties: Los Angeles, Trinity, San Bernardino, Siskiyou, Tuolumne, Mono, Placer, El Dorado, Sierra, Alpine, Inyo, Madera, Tulare, Nevada, Amador, Mariposa, Calaveras, Lassen, Humboldt, Kern

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