Delphinium trolliifolium
Cow poison, poison larkspur, Poison Larkspur
Family: Ranunculaceae · Type: perennial · Native
Cow poison is a California native perennial found in northern coastal California and northern Coast Ranges in oak woodland and coastal chaparral at elevations of 30 to 1,100 meters. Flowering from April to June, this plant produces blue to purple flowers with deeply lobed sepals and a distinctive curved spur. Growing 60 to 120 centimeters tall with stems that are glabrous to slightly hairy and typically narrower at the base, it develops an intricate branching structure. Its leaves feature multiple lobes more than 1 centimeter wide with sharply and irregularly cut tips, creating a distinctive, complex leaf shape. The plant produces elongated fruits 15 to 34 millimeters long that are notably curved and generally more than four times longer than wide.
Habitat: Oak woodland, coastal chaparral
Bloom period: Apr-Jun
Elevation: 30-1100 m
Bioregions: NCo, n&c NCoRO
Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.