Page authors: Don Knoke, David Giblin
Delphinium ajacis
doubtful knight's-spur
Specimens
Photos

Distribution: Limited in distribution to a few localities west of the Cascades in Washington; widely distributed throughout much of North America.

Habitat: Drainage ditches, roadsides, old home sites, waste areas.

Flowers: June-July

Origin: Introduced

Growth Duration: Annual

Conservation Status: Not of concern

Pollination: Bumblebees, bees, flies, butterflies, hummingbirds

Description:
General:

Annual herbs with slender taproots, the stems 3-8 dm. tall, glabrous to sparsely puberulent.

Leaves:

Leaves alternate, all cauline, the lower petiolate, becoming nearly sessile upward; leaves many, the blades orbiculate, 1-5 cm. wide, 12- to 60-lobed, the lobes under 1.5 mm. wide.

Flowers:

Inflorescence a terminal, 6-30 flowered raceme, simple or with 2-3 branches; pedicles spreading, 1-3 cm. long; sepals 3, usually blue or purple, 8-18 mm. long, with a spur 12-20 mm. long, and with short, linear bracteoles at least 4 mm. below the sepals; petals 2, united, 2-lobed, paler and smaller than the sepals; stamens many, the filaments with the base enlarged; style 1.

Fruits:

Follicles 12-25 mm. long, puberulent.

Accepted Name:
Delphinium ajacis L.
Publication: Sp. Pl. 1: 531. 1753

Synonyms & Misapplications:
Consolida ajacis (L.) Schur [FNA3]
Consolida ambigua (L.) P.W. Ball & Heywood
Delphinium ambiguum L.
Additional Resources:

PNW Herbaria: Specimen records of Delphinium ajacis in the Consortium of Pacific Northwest Herbaria database.

WA Flora Checklist: Delphinium ajacis checklist entry.

OregonFlora: Delphinium ajacis information.

E-Flora BC: Delphinium ajacis atlas page.

CalPhotos: Delphinium ajacis photos.

USDA Plants: Delphinium ajacis information.

23 photographs:
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