Carolina larkspur

Delphinium carolinianum is in the Buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). The word “delphinium” is derived from Greek, meaning dolphin. It refers to the bud, which has a dolphin-like shape. The word carolinianum means from Carolina. Of course, today this refers to the mid part of the United States.

As usual, there are multiple common names for this beautiful wildflower. You may hear it referred to as Carolina larkspur, Prairie larkspur, Wild larkspur, Blue larkspur and probably others.

On Ozarkedge, most flowers of wild larkspur are clear gem-stone blue with violet spurs. The hood may be violet or pale blue and occasionally white and rarely even reddish-purple. A lighter blue version of the flower is sometimes seen and is known as Delphinium virescens. This is now considered to be the same or a subspecies of Delphinium carolinianum.

An individual flower is composed of 5 petal-like sepals and 4 petals. The sepals have rounded edges with a greenish indentation and notch near the tip. The base of the top sepal forms the upwardly tilted spur at the back of the flower. The two small upper petals form a hood. These two petals extend upward into and enclosed within the spur (formed by the upper sepal). This combination of sepal (outer) and petals (inner) form the the nectary. The lower petals are bearded with fine, white whiskers.

Delphinium carolinianum is a perennial of 1 to 3 feet in height. The stem is pubescent. The finely cut leaves are alternately arranged on the lower stem.

The stem terminates in a raceme with many flowers with flowering beginning at the base of the stem and proceeding to the tip. Many flowers along the stem bloom at once.

After blooming, each flower is replaced by a green seed pod composed of three columns, grouped together. As the seeds ripen, the stem and pods turn light brown and have a papery texture. Since the flowers open sequentially from the bottom to the top, it's common to see both flowers and seed pods on a stem at the same time. When a seed pod turns from green to crispy brown, the seeds will be ripe for harvesting.

These blue beauties light up the month of May on Ozarkedge with flowering lasting about 4-5 weeks.

Bumble Bees, Ruby-throated hummingbirds and butterflies are the main pollinators of Carolina larkspur. Bees are especially attracted to blue flowers and hence, are frequent visitors.

I see Ruby-throated hummingbirds quite often nectaring on these flowers. They are fast workers, moving quickly from one flower to another and plant to plant. While they are such fun to observe, getting a decent photograph of them can be quite a challenge!

Delphinium carolinianum is found in the full sun of rocky glades and prairies to the partial shade of rocky woodlands. At Ozarkedge I find it in thriving in rocky glade habitat and at the edges of the rocky woodland.

It's also a very welcome plant to add to a native wildflower garden.

Carolina larkspur is native from the east coast to Missouri and as far south as Florida and Texas. Natureserve shows it as Imperiled in Illinois, Vulnerable in Georgia, Secure in Alabama and Apparently Secure in Louisiana. All other states within it's range have No Status Rank.

Just as hummingbirds are attracted more to red flowers, bees prefer blue or yellow. The eyes of bees are adapted to see blue, ultraviolet and yellow wavelengths best. Flowers that need bee pollinators feature colors that attract bees. These flowers are often tubular in shape and frequently contain dotted trails or bee guides that lead bees to the nectar. Other flowers that need bees are disk shaped like those in the aster family. These flowers have a wide area for landing allowing bees to crawl from one spot to the next to collect the nectar and pollen.