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Delphinium nudicaule
Also called Scarlet Larkspur, Canyon Larkspur, Orange Larkspur
Red larkspur is a low-growing perennial wildflower of California and Oregon canyons and foothills, prized for its red and orange spurred flowers that attract hummingbirds. It needs good drainage and cool, moist conditions, and it is highly poisonous.
Delphinium nudicaule, known by the common names canyon larkspur, red larkspur, orange larkspur, and canyon delphinium, is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae. It is native to low-elevation canyons and slopes, foothills, and mountain ranges of California, US, from the Sierra Nevada to the California Coast Ranges, and of Oregon. It grows below 6,500 feet (2,000 m).
The plant sends up thin and long 1–2 feet (0.30–0.61 m) stems with finely dissected leaves. It bears attractive larkspur flowers in shades of red and orange that are generally pollinated by hummingbirds. D. nudicaule readily hybridizes with several other species of Delphinium.
The first phytochemical study of this plant was carried out by Michael Benn and Palaniappan Kulanthaivel at the University of Calgary in Canada. These researchers reported the presence of a number of diterpenoid alkaloids: hetisine, 2-dehydrohetisine, 6-deoxydelcorine, dictyocarpine, dihydrogadesine, methyllycaconitine, lycoctonine, takaosamine, nudicaulamine, nudicauline, and nudicaulidine.
The presence of these alkaloids in D. nudicaule implies that the plant is likely to be quite poisonous. The LD50 for MLA is ~5 mg/kg, i.v., in the mouse, and the LD50 for nudicauline is ~3 mg/kg, i.v., in the mouse.
The root of Delphinium nudicaule has been historically used as a medicinal narcotic, chiefly by the Mendocino Native Americans of the Yuki tribe.
Doubtful knight's-spur · Consolida armeniaca · Consolida oliveriana · Royal knight's-spur · Anderson's larkspur · Baker's delphinium · Subalpine larkspur · Little larkspur · Musk Larkspur · California larkspur · Delphinium calthifolium · Scarlet larkspur
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Delphinium nudicaule by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
