524 



RANUNCULACEAE 



whitish ; follicles oblong, rather turgid, 7 to 10 lines long, hispid-pubescent ; 

 angles of the seeds narrowly winged, the wings soft-cellular, commonly sordid. 



Open grassy hills, South Coast Ranges from Mendocino Co. to San Mateo Co. 

 and San Luis Obispo Co. Commonly occurring gregariously or in small colonies. 



Locs. Potter Valley, Nettie Purpus; Scotts Valley, Lake Co., Tracy ; Crystal Springs Lake, 

 San Mateo Co., Davy 1067; Redwood, Jepson 5734; San Martin, Chandler 920; Paso Robles, 

 Barber; Santa Margarita Valley, Summers. Passes into D. parryi var. maritimum Davidson, 

 in the neighborhood of the last-named station. 



It also passes into the scarcely distinguishable var. APICULATUM Greene; Powers usually on 

 shorter pedicels in a cylindrical raceme. Inner foothills from Butte, Tehama and Napa cos. 

 southerly to Santa Clara Co.: Clear Creek, Butte Co., Heller 5520; Tehama Co., Jepson; 

 Calistoga, Jepson; Oakville, B. Kuhn; Yountville, Jepson; Vacaville, Jepson; Montezuma 

 Hills, Jepson; Antioch, Davy 971; near Mt. Hamilton, Pendleton. 



Eefs. DELPHINIUM VARIEGATTJM T. & G. Fl. 1: 32 (1838), type from California, Douglas; 

 Jepson, Fl. W. Mid. Cal. 196 (1901). D. emiliae Greene, Erythea, 2: 120 (1894), type loc. 

 Booth ranch, Knights Valley, Greene. Var. APICULATUM Greene, Fl. Fr. 304 (1892). D. apicu- 

 latum Greene, Pitt. 1: 285 (1889), type loc. plains near Byron Springs. 



12. D. hesperium Gray. WESTERN LARKSPUR. Stem commonly simple, l 1 /^ 

 to 3 feet high, arising from a cluster of thick-fibrous roots or a single woody 

 taproot; herbage shortly pubescent; leaves 2 to 3 times palmately cleft into 

 oblong or linear spreading segments; raceme rather dense, virgate, 6 to 14 

 inches long; pedicels 2 to 6 lines long, or the lowest 1 inch, strictly erect; 

 flowers commonly blue, rarely pink or white or intermediate shades; sepals 4 

 to 6 lines long, equaled or exceeded by the straight spur, somewhat densely 

 puberulent on the outside or the alternate ones with a rather definite puberu- 

 lent band; petals little shorter than the sepals; follicles short-oblong, 3 to 5 

 (or 7) lines long, pubescent; seeds with a loose cellular whitish coat, which is 

 produced into narrow wings on the angles. 



Dry open ground in the foothills: Coast Ranges (Humboldt Co. south to 

 Contra Costa Co. and Monterey Co.). Flowering at beginning of the dry season; 

 rather common, but occurring as scattered individuals, rarely in colonies. No 

 one constant and definite distinction between this species and D. parryi has yet 

 been advanced. The two species, in certain broad aspects, are unlike and may 

 be retained in spite of occasional specimens (such as plants from Buck Mt., 

 Humboldt Co.), which blur the most carefully sought differences. 



Locs. Humboldt Co., Chandler (Klamath River), Tracy 3041 (Kneeland Prairie), 2755 

 (Buck Mt.) ; Sherwood Valley, Mendocino Co., Jepson 1835; Vaca Mts., Jepson: Howell Mt., 

 Jepson; South Los Guilicos, Sonoma Co., Bioletti; Glen Ellen, M. S. Baker; Mt. Tamalpais, 

 Bioletti; Berkeley, Jepson; Mt. Diablo, Jepson; Pilarcitos Lake, San Mateo Co., Davy 1152; 

 Los Gatos, Heller 7440 ; Coyote Creek, Santa Clara Co., Jepson; Paso Robles, Barber; Thomas 

 Valley, San Jacinto Mts., Hall. 



Var. recurvatum Jepson n. comb. Habit of the species ; leaves usually with 

 narrower more acute divisions ; flowers pink-lavender or lavender-white, rarely 

 blue; sepals recurving. Low, especially alkaline, lands, Sacramento and San 

 Joaquin valleys, and saline valleys of the inner South Coast Ranges. This 

 variety passes into the species and lacks distinguishing marks for specific or 

 even good varietal status. The term linear-oblong cannot be properly applied 

 to the sepals as exhibited in the usual collections. The sepals (2 or mostly 3 

 lines broad) are no narrower than often in the species, the spur is often blunt, 

 but it is often so in the species, and as to color character both the species and 

 this variety show a full line of the variant colors prevailing in the Californian 

 species of the section Delphiniastrum. 



Locs. Willows, Jepson; Pit River ferry, H. E. Brown; Little Oak and Montezuma Hills, 

 Solano Co., Jepson; Antioch, Chesnut fy Drew; Porterville, Donnelly; Estrella, Jared; Carrizo 

 plain, Eastwood; upper San Joaquin valley, Kern Co., Davy 1881. 



Var. cuyamacae Jepson n. comb. Leaves thickish or subcoriaceous. the sin- 

 uses with straight rather than curving sides, the lobes broad and mainly cleft 



