15 



cleft leaves are mostly basal and are nearly hairless to 

 fairly densely hairy. The large, showy blue flowers are 

 borne on long, spreading pedicels and form a relatively 

 broad, pyramidal inflorescence. The flowers are strongly 

 irregular, with 5 large sepals which are flared in front; 

 the upper one is prominently spurred in back. There are two 

 pairs of smaller and comparatively inconspicuous petals, the 

 upper are blue tipped (sometimes solid white) without 

 pigmented veins. There are usually 3 pistils, which develop 

 into follicles (dry, many seeded fruits which split down one 

 side) . 



2. Technical description: not yet available. 



3. Diagnostic characters: These plants are geographically 

 sympatric to Delphinium bicolor ssp. bicolor , which they 

 resemble. The key distinction in the field is the upper 

 petals, which are blue tipped or solid white, in contrast to 

 the blue veined petals of the nominate subspecies. In 

 addition, the flowers are somewhat larger, the sepals are 

 brighter blue, and the lower petals are more deeply cleft 

 (Warnock, pers. commun.). There also seems to be subtle 

 differences in phenology, Delphinium bicolor ssp. bicolor 

 being earlier to flower when the two taxa were growing in 

 the same vicinity (observed outside of this study area at 

 Doherty Mountain, Jefferson County). Delphinium bicolor 

 ssp. bicolor was not seen in the study area, but has a broad 

 distribution in Montana and is likely to occur here as well; 

 other larkspurs seen in the study area are either tall or 

 very short plants which grow in wetter areas. 



B. Current legal or other formal status 



1. Federal 



a. Bureau of Land Management: none 



b. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: none 



c. U.S. Forest Service: none 



2. State: The Montana Natural Heritage Program ranks 

 Delphinium bicolor ssp. novum as G3 and S3. This is an 

 indication that the taxon has a restricted range. Global 

 and state rank are the same because the taxon is known only 

 from Montana. 



C. Geographic distribution 



1. Species range: This undescribed taxon is apparently endemic 

 to southwestern and south central Montana. 



