668 Eastwood : Californian Species of Delphinium 



Delphinium decorum F. & M. 



Roots fibrous from a single roundish or irregularly lobed tuber, 

 about I cm. below the true stem. Stems one to several from the 

 root, 1-2 dm. high, diffusely branched from the base or simple, 

 striate, somewhat glabrous or pubescent with short white deflexed 

 curly hairs. Radical leaves on petioles 3-12 cm. long, broadening 

 at base and sheathing the stem : blades with from 3-5 main divi- 

 sions, these cuneate, separated, 1-3 cm. long, 5-15 mm. broad, 

 2-3-lobed with rounded, mucronate lobes : pubescence of lower 

 surface similar to that of the stem, upper surface almost glabrous : 

 cauline leaves, if present, with narrower divisions, generally simple 

 and entire. Inflorescence corymbose : lowest bracts with usually 

 simple, entire, oblong divisions on short petioles : upper bracts and 

 bractlets spatulate, entire, 5-10 cm. long, 2-8 mm. broad : pedicels 

 stout, erect or upwardly spreading, often becoming 6 cm. long, with 

 2 or 3 alternate or, rarely 2 opposite bractlets. Flowers 25 mm. in 

 diameter, purplish blue. Sepals pubescent externally, especially 

 along the median line, with a greenish spot near the top, oblong or 

 oval, obtuse or acute, 10-15 mm. long, 5—10 mm. wide : spur thick, 

 10 mm. long, straight or curved on the same plant. Lower petals 

 with orbicular, 2-lobed blade and a claw equally long, spurred at 

 base, covered with long white hairs except on a spot above the claw 

 which is clothed with long yellow hairs : upper petals white, tinged 

 or veined with blue, notched at apex, glabrous. Follicles diverging 

 from the first, glabrous or slightly pubescent when ripe, 1 5 mm - 

 long, including the persistent styles. Seeds brown when ripe, the 

 loose cellular outer coat of the young seed forming a close, tuber- 

 culate covering to the ripe seed. 



Specimens are represented in the Herbarium of the Academy 

 by no. 801 from Cobum's Mills, collected by T. S. Brandegee, 

 May 29, 1 891, and by a specimen collected by the author at 

 Kaweah, Tulare county, May, 1894, no. 789. With this is another 

 specimen similar in all respects except the pubescence, it being glab- 

 rous where the other is glandular-hairy. This leads me to think that 

 the character of the pubescence is not to be relied on as a character- 

 istic and that all of these are but forms of the same species modi- 

 fied by environment which cultivation under similar conditions 

 might prove to be identical. If this glandular form should not 

 prove to be a distinct species, it nevertheless deserves varietal ran 



The type descriptions are appended in the footnotes for 

 benefit of those to whom the original references are not accessi 



