1902] BRIEFER ARTICLES 



453 



poles with the sides of some dry goods box for blades. They indicate 

 the remarkable dearth of wood in the region. 



They are weird little craft, and add one more use to the list of 

 things which can be made from this remarkable desert palm.— David 

 G. Fairchild, Agricultural Explorer, U. S. Departincnt of Agriculture. 



A VARIABLE LARKSPUR. 



The genus Delphinium, both in the Rocky mountains and in Cali- 

 fornia, runs into numerous local races or species. Formerly these 

 were classified under a few specific names, but this method had the 

 unfortunate result of grouping together without distinction very diverse 

 plants. Now we are going to the opposite extreme, and the list of 

 species is becoming very long. In all probability we shall eventually 

 come to regard the majority of the distinguishable forms as subspecies 

 or races only ; but for the present the chief aim is to separate the dif- 

 ferent plants, whether or not we can reach final conclusions regarding 

 their status. Whatever the nomenclatural outcome, there will evidently 

 be much to interest the student of evolution. 



In the Sapello canon, Las Vegas range, New Mexico, a peculiar 

 and variable Delphinium is very abundant. The writer in 1900 

 described it as a new species, but the description was not immediately 

 published, and presently many new species were recorded from Colo- 

 rado and elsewhere, so that the subject became complicated. The 

 plant was clearly related to D. occidentale^ and it seemed possible that 

 It might be a southern form of D, mu/tiflorum Rydberg 1902. I sent 

 specimens representing the variations to Professor Aven Nelson, who 

 has an intimate field knowledge of the Rocky mountain larkspurs, and 

 he fails to recognize the plant, remarking that it is '^certainly a fine 

 species." He also agrees with me that the specimens sent are all of 

 one species. Under these circumstances it seems desirable to publish 

 a description. 



Delphinium sapellonis, n. sp. — Strict, up to six feet high : leaves 

 tripartite, the lateral divisions large, and themselves almost tripartite : 

 flowers very dull-colored: spurs obliquely ascending, slightly curved 

 downwards, dark purple above, green below, varying to all pale with 

 a dark purple line above : sepals brownish or greenish-white, veined 

 with purple : anthers with an indigo^blue longitudinal band : lower 

 petals purple, with their apical lobes pale, with light yellow hairs : 

 pods with a short but rather dense glandular pubescence : upper part 



