''Delphinium cardinale'' is a species of larkspur known by the common names scarlet larkspur and cardinal larkspur. This wildflower is native to California and Baja California, where it grows on coastal, inland, and desert

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

slopes, such as the

Colorado Desert California's Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella and Imperial valleys. It is home to many unique flora and fauna. Geography and geology The Colorado De ...

, and the Peninsular and Transverse Ranges. The presence of diterpenoid

alkaloids Alkaloids are a class of basic, naturally occurring organic compounds that contain at least one nitrogen atom. This group also includes some related compounds with neutral and even weakly acidic properties. Some synthetic compounds of similar st ...

, probably including the highly toxic

methyllycaconitine Methyllycaconitine (MLA) is a diterpenoid alkaloid found in many species of ''Delphinium'' (larkspurs). In common with many other diterpenoid alkaloids, it is toxic to animals, although the acute toxicity varies with species. Early research was f ...

,M. H. Benn (1966) ''Can. J. Chem.'' 44 1-8. in above-ground parts of ''D. cardinale'' means that they are likely to be toxic if ingested.

Description

This tall larkspur grows on an erect stem which often exceeds two meters (~6 ft.) in height. It is a perennial herb. The leaves are divided into many narrow lobes. The top of the thin stem is occupied by many widely spaced flowers, each at the end of a pedicel several centimeters long. Each flower has scarlet red sepals which are generally curled forward into a bowl shape. The petals are also scarlet, except for the top two which are scarlet marked with bright yellow blotches. The flower may be 3 centimeters wide and the same in length, including the spur.

Habitat

Typical habitat is in chert or

shale Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4) and tiny fragments (silt-sized particles) of other minerals, especial ...

talus at the edge of

or within chaparral gaps. As its flowers would suggest, it is

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

pollinated.

Chemical Studies

Since ''D. cardinale'' does not seem to have been associated either with folk-medicinal usage or livestock-poisoning, it has been the object of only limited chemical study: in 1966, Mike Benn of the University of Calgary in Canada isolated the following diterpenoid alkaloids from the above-ground parts of ''D. cardinale'' plants collected in California: browniine; dehydrobrowniine; hetisine; dehydrohetisine and

lycoctonine Lycoctonine is a plant alkaloid and a precursor to the ABC ring system of taxoid Taxoids are a class of derivatives from taxol, that is, paclitaxel. They were developed for their anticancer chemotherapeutic properties. Taxoids are usually treate ...

. There was also good evidence for the presence of

, but this was not isolated.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment — ''Delphinium cardinale''CalFlora Database: ''Delphinium cardinale''''Delphinium cardinale'' — U.C. Photo gallery
cardinale Flora of the California desert regions Flora of Baja California Flora of California Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants {{Ranunculales-stub