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Two-spike Larkspur - Delphinium distichum
Other Names:
Delphinium burkei [misapplied]
State Rank Reason (see State Rank above)
Delphinium distichum is rare in Montana, where it is known from at least 6 historical collections in the southwest and northwest portions of the state. Collections and observations were made between 1922 and 1981 and their locations are imprecisely recorded. However, their general locations appear to still be intact, so it is presumed that specific occurrences may be extant. Population sizes, extents, and trends and threats are unknown.
Revisits to all known occurrences are needed to determine presence/absence. Where present, data on population parameters, habitat conditions, and potential threats is greatly needed to accurate assess its conservation status in Montana.
General Description
Meadow larkspur is a perennial herb with non-hollow stems, 4-7 dm (16-28 in) high, from a cluster of short, tuberous roots. The long-stalked basal leaves, 4-6 cm (ca. 2 in) wide, are hemispheric in outline and twice divided like the fingers on a hand into broad, rounded lobes. The numerous leaves of the upper stem are once deeply divided into linear segments. Foliage is covered with fine, short, white hairs. Flowers are well separated in a spike at the top of the stem; lower flowers are stalked, while the upper are not. Each flower has 5 blue petal-like sepals, 7-9 mm long, projecting forward. The upper one has a conical spur, 11-17 mm long, projecting back. The 2 lower petals are blue and longer than the sepals, while the 2 upper petals are white and shorter. The fruit is an erect, hairy, oblong, 3-lobed capsule, 8-12 mm long.
Phenology
Flowering in July.
Diagnostic Characteristics
Easily confused with D. depauperatum, which is usually shorter, less hairy, with fewer, but larger flowers and sepals usually darker. Also, D. depauperatum has fewer stem leaves. Leaf dimorphy is also expressed in D. depauperatum, just to a lesser degree. The leaves of D. depauperatum are usually less deeply divided or have broader leaf lobes. Both grow in moist meadows, but D. burkei tends to prefer meadows that fully desiccate in summer.
Nomenclature and Taxonomy
ETYMOLOGYThe genus
Delphinium is the Latin form of the Greek word,
delphinion which references the 'larkspur' used by Pedanius Dioscorides, a Greek pharmacologist, physician, botanist, and author (Giblin et al. [eds.] 2018;
Wikipedia 2026).
MISAPPLIED NAMEDelphinium distichum can hybridize with
Delphinium nuttallianum, which occurs in Montana and other places (Warnock
in Flora of North America 1997;
Delphinium distichum in www.eFloras.org).
Delphinium depauperatum and
Delphinium nuttallianum often grow in the same habitat but occupy different microsites; on occasion they have been found to hybridize. Their progeny have been recognized and given the name of
Delphinium burkei. In Montana, the characteristics of
Delphinium distichum and
Delphinium depauperatum often intergrade - creating intermediate forms that blur the morphological distinction without knowing if they truly hybridize. The name
Delphinium burkei has mistakingly been used for these intermediate forms; however, they are best represented with the name
Delphinium distichum (Warnock
in Flora of North America 1997;
Delphinium in www.eFloras.org; Mincemoyer 2026).
Species Range
Montana Range
Range Descriptions
Native
Range Comments
BC to OR, east to ID, and MT (Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).
Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 9
(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version)
Relative Density
Recency
(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)
Habitat
Moist meadows in the valley and lower montane zone. Usually where soils are saturated in spring, desiccated in summer.
Ecological Communities Associated with this Species
Grassland
Montane - Subalpine Grassland
Wetland and Riparian
Wet Meadow and Marsh
Ecology
POLLINATORS The following animal species have been reported as pollinators of this plant species or its genus where their geographic ranges overlap:
Bombus vagans,
Bombus appositus,
Bombus auricomus,
Bombus borealis,
Bombus centralis,
Bombus fervidus,
Bombus flavifrons,
Bombus mixtus,
Bombus occidentalis,
Bombus pensylvanicus,
Bombus griseocollis,
Bombus impatiens, and
Bombus kirbiellus (Plath 1934, Macior 1974, Bauer 1983, Thorp et al. 1983, Wilson et al. 2010, Colla and Dumesh 2010, Koch et al. 2012, Pyke et al. 2012, Miller-Struttmann and Galen 2014, Williams et al. 2014).
Stewardship Responsibility
Threats or Limiting Factors
Reported threats to Montana's populations of Meadow Larkspur have not been identified.
References
- Literature Cited AboveLegend:
View Online Publication- Bauer, P.J. 1983. Bumblebee pollination relationships on the Beartooth Plateau tundra of Southern Montana. American Journal of Botany. 70(1): 134-144.
Colla, S.R. and S. Dumesh. 2010. The bumble bees of southern Ontario: notes on natural history and distribution. Journal of the Entomological Society of Ontario 141:39-68.- Koch, J., J. Strange, and P. Williams. 2012. Bumble bees of the western United States. Washington, DC: USDA Forest Service, Pollinator Partnership. 143 p.
- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
- Macior, L.M. 1974. Pollination ecology of the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Melanderia 15: 1-59.
- Miller-Struttmann, N.E. and C. Galen. 2014. High-altitude multi-taskers: bumble bee food plant use broadens along an altitudinal productivity gradient. Oecologia 176:1033-1045.
- MTNHP Threat Assessment. 2021. State Threat Score Assignment and Assessment of Reported Threats from 2006 to 2021 for State-listed Vascular Plants. Botany Program, Montana Natural Heritage Program, Helena, Montana.
- Plath, O.E. 1934. Bumblebees and their ways. New York, NY: Macmillan Company. 201 p.
- Pyke, G.H., D.W. Inouye, and J.D. Thomson. 2012. Local geographic distributions of bumble bees near Crested Butte, Colorado: competition and community structure revisited. Environmental Entomology 41(6): 1332-1349.
- Thorp, R.W., D.S. Horning, and L.L. Dunning. 1983. Bumble bees and cuckoo bumble bees of California (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Bulletin of the California Insect Survey 23:1-79.
- Williams, P., R. Thorp, L. Richardson, and S. Colla. 2014. Bumble Bees of North America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. 208 p.
- Wilson, J.S., L.E. Wilson, L.D. Loftis, and T. Griswold. 2010. The montane bee fauna of north central Washington, USA, with floral associations. Western North American Naturalist 70(2): 198-207.
- Additional ReferencesLegend: View Online Publication
Do you know of a citation we're missing?- Ewan, J. 1945. A synopsis of the North American species of Delphinium. University of Colorado Studies 2(2):55-242.
- Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
- Sawyer, P.T. 1967. Biosystematic studies of species of delphinium occurring in Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 56 p.
- Sawyer, P.T. 1970. Systematic studies of non-fistulose delphinium taxa common to Montana. Ph.D. Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 84 p.
- Taylor, R.J. 1960. The genus Delphinium in Wyoming. University of Wyoming publications 24:9-21.
- Web Search Engines for Articles on "Two-spike Larkspur"
