166 RANUNCULACEAE (CROWFOOT FAMILY) 



ful. Raceme terminal, the flowers few but large, often exceeding 

 an inch in width, the sepals and the spurs of about the same length 

 and of a deep, rich purple ; the two upper petals pale yellow or 

 white, and netted over with purple veins. Follicles three, smooth, 

 erect or sometimes recurving. Like the Buttercups, Larkspurs 

 seem to lose much, if not all, of their toxic quality when dried in 

 hay ; but, unfortunately, the seeds retain vitality, and, when the 

 hay is baled and sold, are likely to increase the range of a very 

 noxious weed. 



Means of control 



In restricted localities and small areas, the perennial roots may 

 be pulled or grubbed out or the land may be put under cultivation 

 and reseeded. But on open ranges, the only practicable way seems 

 to be to guard the animals by herding them away from the weed 

 until it becomes so mature that they will eat other forage in pref- 

 erence. 



SMALL LARKSPUR 

 Delphinium Menziesii, DC. 



Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 



Time of bloom : April to July, varying with altitude. 



Seed-time: June to September. 



Range : Northern Colorado to California, and northward to British 



Columbia. 

 Habitat: Hillsides and mountain valleys, ascending to about eight 



thousand feet. 



As this plant seldom exceeds a foot in height, stockmen and 

 herders are accustomed to speak of it, and also of Delphinium bi- 

 color, as the "Little Larkspurs," in contradistinction to their 

 neighbor, Delphinium glaucum, which sometimes attains seven feet 

 and is called the "Big Larkspur" or "Large Larkspur." It is 

 generally regarded as less poisonous than D. bicolor, although 

 E. V. Wilcox * reports a case on a Montana range where a flock 

 of six hundred sheep were poisoned by it, of which two hundred 

 and fifty died; and the same poisonous alkaloid, called delpho- 



1 " Thirty Poisonous Plants of the United States." Farmers' Bulletin No. 

 86, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



