BUTTERCUP FAMILY 519 



to discriminate, and, as immaterial altho sometimes striking variations abound, 

 there is a tendency to multiply species rather than to search rigorously for 

 essential points of likeness. The roots are more or less differentiated and 

 should never be neglected in making specimens. The segmentation and pubes- 

 cence of the leaves, especially the lower, furnish characters useful in writing 

 diagnoses. The seeds have distinguishing features, but may be misleading if 

 observations are restricted to a representation of proposed species resting on 

 single or few individuals. 



All the species are probably more or less poisonous, but most occur too spar- 

 ingly in California to be a menace to cattle. D. hesperium var. recurvatum is 

 reported as poisoning cattle in the South Coast Eanges. D. trolliifolium has a 

 bad reputation, whilst D. menziesii is the best-known of the various species 

 ofttimes responsible for causing a heavy mortality among cattle and sheep. 



Refs. Chesnut, V. K., Principal Poisonous Plants of the U. S. (U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. Bot. 

 Bull. 20, 1898) ; Preliminary Cat. of Plants Poisonous to Stock (U. S. Bur. Animal Ind. Eep. 

 1898). Wilcox, E. V., Larkspur Poisoning of Sheep (Mont. Agr. Exp. Bull. 15, 1897). 

 Chesnut, V. K., and Wilcox, E. V., Stock-poisoning Plants of Montana (U. S. Dept. Agr. Div. 

 Bot. Bull. 26, 1901). Crawford, A. C., Larkspurs as Poisonous Plants (U. S. Bur. PI. Ind. 

 Bull. Ill, pt. 1, 1907). This last-cited paper contains many references to the literature. 



A. Flowers red; follicles glabrous; seeds sharply angled, narrowly margined. 



Section PHOENICODELPHIS. 



Leaves divided into narrowly linear or lanceolate divisions; stem leafy 1. D. cardinale. 



Leaves parted into broad mostly obtuse divisions. 



Stem few-leaved ; common 2. D. nudicaule. 



Stem leafy; rare 3. D. purpusii. 



B. Flowers blue, white, pink or lavender. Section DELPHINASTRUM. 

 Leaves not fan-shaped; stems freely or sparsely leafy, at least, with a few leaves towards the 



base; upper petals usually white, the lower simulating the color of the calyx. 

 Eoot a globose tuber or a cluster of fleshy roots. 



Leaves mostly twice palmately divided or cleft and toothed. 



Follicles erect, glabrous ; foothills and middle altitudes 4. D. decorum. 



Follicles strongly curved-diverging, pubescent; n. Mendocino to Siskiyou and 



Modoc; higher altitudes 5. D. menziesii. 



Leaves commonly pedately divided into very narrow, mostly entire, lobes; northern 



Sierra Nevada at higher altitudes 6. D. pauciflorum. 



Soot a cluster of hard woody, often fusiform, fibres. 



Stems very tall; flowers numerous; pedicels spreading, the racemes loose or, at least, 



broad; follicles glabrous. 

 Ultimate leaf -lobes little unequal, obtuse, mucronulate; raceme mostly loose; 



herbage glabrous; far North Coast Eanges 7. D. trolliifolium. 



Ultimate leaf-segments unequal, lanceolate or acute. 



Flowers slightly puberulent ; herbage glabrous ; Sierra Nevada 



8. D. scopulorum. 



Flowers rather densely pubescent ; herbage pubescent ; coast species 



9. D. californicum. 



Stems tall; racemes commonly very strict or cylindrie, sometimes loose; follicles pu- 

 berulent. 

 Petioles hirsute with spreading hairs; seeds densely covered with thin processes, 



as if scaly-eehinate ; Sierra Nevada, lower altitudes 10. D. hansenii. 



Seeds not scaly-echinate. 



Coastal or interior valley species. 



Petioles hirsute with spreading hairs, mostly short; racemes of medium 

 length and often loose; flowers commonly royal purple, rarely 



pinkish; mostly central Coast Ranges 11. D. variegatum. 



Petioles finely canescent. 



Sepals densely pubescent on the back (usually blurring the color) 

 in a median longitudinal band; pedicels mostly 2 to 6 lines 

 long; leaf -lobes mostly short; petioles mostly short; west- 

 central California, chiefly 12. D. hesperium. 



Sepals lightly pubescent on the back (not blurring the color) ; pedi- 

 cels mostly 4 to 12 lines long; leaf -lobes usually long; peti- 

 oles often long; Southern California chiefly.. 13. D. parryi. 



