DESCRIPTION 



GENERAL NONTECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Delphinium 

 andersonii is a perennial herb with a thick, woody 

 rootstock (Figure 9) . There are several erect 

 steins up to about 25 in. tall. The steins usually 

 lack hairs below the flowers, or are sometimes 

 totally without hairs. The leaves occur mainly at 

 the base or on the lower Vi of the stem. They are 

 fleshy, and are more or less withered by flowering 

 time. The lower leaves are on stalks 1-5 times as 

 long as the leaf blade. The leaf blade is round 

 in outline, about 2 in. broad, and divided into 

 many linear segments. The upper leaves are 

 generally very much reduced or even absent. The 

 flowering stalk is unbranched or can have 1- 

 several reduced branches. The main flowering 

 branch has 3-15 flowers which are not crowded 

 along the stem except for the buds at the tip. 

 The individual flower stalks are 2-4 times as long 

 as the flower. The sepals are blue, slightly less 

 than Va in. long, and deeply split. The upper 

 petals are whitish with blue tips. The fruit is 

 up to 1 in. long. The seeds are less than Vs in. 

 long and have noticeable angles with white wings. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Low perennial from an 

 extensive, thick, branching, woody root; stems 1- 

 several, erect, 1.5-5(-7) dm tall, slender to 

 fairly thick and sometimes fistulose, glabrous 

 below the inflorescence or occasionally throughout 

 (Figure 9) . Leaves mainly basal or on the lower 

 third of the stem, the lower ones more or less 

 withered by anthesis (green at anthesis according 

 to Ewan) , the upper leaves generally with very 

 much reduced and bracteate if present; lower 

 leaves with petioles 1-5 times as long as the 

 blades, the blades orbicular in outline, mostly 2- 

 5 (-6) cm broad, somewhat fleshy, usually about 3 

 times dissected, the ultimate segments linear to 

 oblong, 1-3 (-4) mm broad, rounded to somewhat 

 acute and callous at the apex, the primary 

 divisions of the blades not distinct; 

 inflorescence simple or with 1-several reduced 

 lateral racemes, the main raceme usually 3- to 15- 

 flowered, lax and open, the lower pedicels mostly 

 2-4 times as long as the calyx; sepals generally 

 deep clear blue (light blue or somewhat purplish), 

 ovate-oblong, blunt or rounded, sometimes 

 apiculate, (9-) 11-15 mm long, spreading rather 

 than cupulate, spur usually shorter than the 



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