Delphinium gypsophilum

Gypsum-loving larkspur

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Conservation status: CNPS 3.2

Gypsum-loving larkspur is a California native perennial found in southern Sierra Nevada foothills, Tehachapi, San Joaquin Valley, and southern Coast Ranges in grassland and open oak woodland slopes at elevations of 90 to 1,200 meters. Flowering from February to June, this plant produces white to pink flowers that interestingly dry to sky blue on herbarium specimens, with delicate lateral sepals 7 to 19 millimeters long. Growing 30 to 150 centimeters tall with glaucous stems that are generally glabrous and firmly attached to a sometimes branched root, it creates an elegant vertical presence in its grassland habitat. Its leaves are nearly glabrous with 3 to 12 lobes, ranging from 3 to 24 millimeters wide on basal leaves and 1 to 8 millimeters wide on stem leaves. The fruit is relatively compact, measuring 9 to 18 millimeters long and typically no more than three times as wide as its length.

Habitat: Slopes in grassland, open oak woodland

Bloom period: Feb-Jun

Elevation: 90-1200 m

Bioregions: s SNF, Teh, SnJV, SCoR.

California counties: Kern, San Luis Obispo, San Benito, Monterey, Fresno, Ventura, San Joaquin, Kings, Stanislaus, Santa Barbara, Merced, Riverside, Alameda

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