8 
BULLETIN 1245, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
particularly difficult for the ordinary observer, after a little experi- 
ence, to recognize larkspurs in all stages of growth. While there is 
a large number of species, all may be grouped under the two general 
heads of tall larkspurs and low larkspurs. 
Tall Lakk spurs 
The tall larkspurs in their maturity reach a height of -i or even 
6 or 8 feet. They are perennials and grow in great abundance in 
the high mountain regions, ordinarily preferring damp and shel- 
tered places, such as are found in mountain valleys and under trees. 
Under some circumstances, however, they may grow in considerable 
abundance in the open. All the tall larkspurs agree in the form of 
the leaf, which is well illustrated in Plates IV and V. The flowers, 
with the spur from which the plant gets its name, are very char- 
acteristic in their form 
and in most species 
v a r y in their colors 
through various shades 
of violet, blue, and 
purple. Before the 
plants are mature the 
leaves may be confused 
with those of the wild 
geranium, w h i c h in 
many places grows 
abundantly with the 
tall larkspur, but the 
different habit of the 
plant makes it compar- 
atively easy to distin- 
guish between them. 
It is more difficult to 
distinguish between 
aconite and larkspur, because the leaves of the aconite are almost 
identical in form with those of the larkspur, and the habit of the 
plant is similar. The leaves of aconite have shorter petioles (leaf 
stalks) than those of larkspur. 
Species of tall larkspurs are found in all the mountain ranges of 
the West at high elevations, growing up as high as the timber line. 
Sometimes they are found as scattered clumps of plants, but fre- 
quently they grow in large masses. 
Plate IV shows the leaf, flower, and seed pod of the tall larkspur 
which is most common in Montana and adjoining States, known to 
botanists as Delphinium cucuJlatum. This does not ordinarily grow 
to any considerable height — perhaps not more than 4 feet — and the 
flower is less conspicuous than in most of the tall larkspurs. The 
color is ordinarily described as a grayish purple, due to the fact 
thai there is considerable white in connection with the violet-purple 
shades of the corolla. This plant is responsible for most of the 
deaths of cattle by larkspur in Montana. Plate A' shows the tall 
larkspur of the Pacific coast region {Delphinium trolliifolium) ; it 
has a much more conspicuous and beautiful flower than D. cucul- 
latum. 
Fig. 6. — A sheep which was killed by extract of grease- 
wood. 
