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 Ménziesii, 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. 
