Delphinium patens subsp. patens

Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: perennial · Native

Spreading larkspur is a California native perennial found in southern North Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, Central Valley, San Francisco Bay Area, and northern South Coast Ranges in grassland and open woodland at elevations of 80 to 1,100 meters. Flowering from March to June, this plant produces blue to purple flowers with distinctive sepals 9 to 20 millimeters long and a curved spur 10 to 15 millimeters in length. Growing with stems 10 to 90 centimeters tall, it has an upright and somewhat branching structure. Its basal and lower stem leaves are deeply divided into 3 to 5 lobes, each generally less than 15 millimeters wide, with lower leaf segments cut more than 80 percent toward the leaf stem. The lower flower petals are 4 to 6 millimeters long, with inner lobes noticeably hairier than outer lobes.

Habitat: Grassland, open woodland

Bloom period: Mar-Jun

Elevation: 80-1100 m

Bioregions: s NCoR, SN, GV, SnFrB, n SCoR.

California counties: Solano, Stanislaus, Santa Clara, Nevada, Lake, Monterey, Napa, Tulare, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Benito, Los Angeles, Sonoma, Glenn, Santa Cruz, Marin, Kern, Tuolumne, Mariposa, Yuba, Butte, Calaveras, San Mateo, Yolo, Plumas, Tehama, El Dorado, San Diego, Fresno, Placer, Madera, Sutter, San Joaquin, Amador, Trinity, Colusa, Merced, Sierra, San Francisco

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