Map Snapshot
67 Records
Status
Grows in rich woods, especially in calcareous soils. It once grew on islands in the Potomac River near Washington, DC, but is now thought to be extirpated from those locations. (J. Hill/MNPS)
Description
There are five petal-like sepals, with the upper sepal forming an unusual, long, slightly curved nectar spur that extends upward and behind the rest of the flower. The four petals consist of two upper ones that are very small and whitish towards the base, and extend backward into the spur; and two lower ones, which are hairy and surround the whitish opening that leads to the spur. The flower is usually purple or blue-violet, but can be white, and in this photo we see some plants that have purplish flowers and others whose flowers are whitish. Most of the leaves are at the base of the plant, with a few along the lower part of the flowering stalk. The leaves are palmately five-parted, with each part divided into shallow secondary lobes. (J. Hill/MNPS)
Relationships
The flowers are pollinated mainly by long-tongued bees (J. Hill/MNPS)
Seasonality Snapshot
Source: Wikipedia
| Delphinium tricorne | |
|---|---|
| |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Ranunculales |
| Family: | Ranunculaceae |
| Genus: | Delphinium |
| Species: | D. tricorne
|
| Binomial name | |
| Delphinium tricorne | |
Delphinium tricorne, known by the common names dwarf larkspur[1] or spring larkspur,[2] is a species of flowering plant in the Ranunculaceae (buttercup) family. It is native to the central and eastern United States, where it is the most common Delphinium found.[3]
Description
[edit]D. tricorne is a perennial plant that grows to a height of 15–45 centimetres (6–18 in), with a thin flowering stalk rising from a group of basal leaves. There are a few alternate leaves along the stalk. All the leaves are grayish green to green, and deeply divided into about 5 lobes that are then each divided further into 2 or 3 secondary lobes. The basal leaves are up to 10 centimetres (4 in) long and across.[4]
The inflorescence is a raceme at the end of the stalk consisting of 6 to 24 flowers that are violet, blue, white, or a mixture of these colors.[5] The flowers have 4 to 5 sepals and a long, narrow spur in the back. They are 1–1.5 inches (3–4 cm) long.[6]
Etymology
[edit]The genus name, Delphinium, comes from the Greek word for "dolphin", and may refer to the shape of the flowers. The specific epithet, tricorne, is Latin for "with three horns", which describes the shape of the fruit.[5]
Distribution and habitat
[edit]D. tricorne is native in the United States from Nebraska to the west, Pennsylvania to the east, Alabama and Mississippi to the south, and Minnesota to the north.[1] It is found in rich mesic forests, often over calcareous rocks.[7]
Ecology
[edit]The plant is pollinated by bumblebees and hummingbirds, and several other species of bees visit the flowers for nectar and pollen.[8]
Toxicity
[edit]The diterpenoid alkaloids lycoctonine and tricornine (otherwise known as lycoctonine-18-O-acetate) have been isolated from D. tricorne.[9] The toxicology and pharmacology of lycoctonine have been quite well studied, but there is only limited information available concerning the biological properties of tricornine.[10] Both alkaloids have neuro-muscular blocking properties,[11] and D. tricorne should be treated as a potentially poisonous plant. This species has long been regarded as poisonous to livestock.[12]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "NatureServe Explorer 2.0". explorer.natureserve.org.
- ^ "Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin". www.wildflower.org.
- ^ Flora of North America
- ^ "Dwarf Larkspur (Delphinium tricorne)". www.illinoiswildflowers.info.
- ^ a b Denison, Edgar (2017). Missouri Wildflowers (Sixth ed.). Conservation Commission of the State of Missouri. p. 83. ISBN 978-1-887247-59-7.
- ^ "Vascular Plants of North Carolina". auth1.dpr.ncparks.gov.
- ^ "Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States". Archived from the original on 2018-10-06. Retrieved 2017-01-15.
- ^ Macior, Lazarus Walter (November 1975). "The Pollination Ecology of Delphinium Tricorne (Ranuncul Aceae)". American Journal of Botany. 62 (10): 1009–1016. doi:10.1002/j.1537-2197.1975.tb11765.x.
- ^ S. W. Pelletier and J. Bhattacharyya (1977) Phytochemistry 16 1464.
- ^ M. H. Benn and J. M. Jacyno (1983). In Alkaloids: Chemical and Biological Perspectives, Vol. 1, (S. W. Pelletier, Ed.) pp. 153-210, New York: Wiley.
- ^ See Wikipedia entry for methyllycaconitine.
- ^ V. K. Chesnut (1898) USDA Farmer's Bull. 86 11-13.