Delphinium ramosum

Stems (45-)70-100 cm; base sometimes reddish, puberulent. Leaves cauline, 8-24, absent from or on proximal 1/5 of stem at anthesis; petiole 1-12 cm. Leaf blade round to pentagonal, 2-8 × 4-14 cm, nearly glabrous; ultimate lobes 5-21, width 1-5 mm; midcauline leaf lobes more than 3 times longer than wide. Inflorescences (10-)15-40(-120)-flowered; pedicel 1-2.5(-4) cm, puberulent; bracteoles 1-3 mm from flowers, green, sometimes margins white, linear or lanceolate, 3-5(-8) mm, puberulent. Flowers: sepals bright dark blue, apex rounded, puberulent, lateral sepals forward pointing to spreading, 11-13 × 4-6 mm, spurs straight, ascending ca. 30° above horizontal, 9-13 mm; lower petal blades ± covering stamens, 5-7 mm, clefts 2-3 mm; hairs centered above base of cleft, white. Fruits 11-17 mm, 3-4 times longer than wide, puberulent. Seeds wing-margined; seed coat cells narrow, short, surfaces roughened. 2 n = 16.

Flowering summer. Meadows, aspen woodlands, Artemisia scrub; 2100-3200(-3400) m; Colo., N.Mex.

Delphinium ramosum hybridizes with D . barbeyi and D . glaucum .