OCR Text |
Show SLIM LARKSPUR The name Larkspur calls forth ' idea of beauty and of death to many persons. Those who have seen fields blue with some species tan never wipe from their minds rat all larkspurs should be blue, m spite of this, some are yellow, ic red and some white. Our ra Larkspur is orthodox in the ter of color, however, and is a deep violet purple so far as the r flowers are concerned. In part because the Slim Larkspur Lark-spur rarely grows to a height greater than a foot it is ofen spoken spok-en of as the Dwarf Larkspur. Certainly Cer-tainly it is much shorter than most of its better known relatives. This shortness does not limit the plant so far as coloring a field or a meadow may be concerned because sometimes this species seems to take over a whole field. When this is the case, cattlemen do not like it because like many other larkspurs lark-spurs the Dwarf Larkspur or Slim Larkspur may be poisonous to cattle. cat-tle. The poisonous properties are most effective when the plant is newly developing its shoots that spring from perennial underground parts. The Slim Larkspur is at its best at the edges of meadows or in open forests of cone-bearing trees. It ranges through the mountains of eastern Washington to northern California and east into Alberta, Idaho, Montana and Nevada. It was first described from a plant collection in the Blue Mountains of eastern Oregon, which region is considered by botanists as being the "type locality." In spite of the obvious beauty of the flowers the Slim Larkspur has not won enough favor among those who cultivate wild flowers for it to be listed as a cultivated plant. Like all the larkspurs the Slim Larkspur is a member of the Buttercup But-tercup or Crowfoot family. The flowers are much more elaborate than one would expect of a buttercup. butter-cup. In the Slim Larkspur there are usually from 2 to 8 flowers in loose clusters. There is a slender slen-der curved spur about Vi-inch long and the upper petals are notched. The fruits are about Vi-mch long, nearly straight and somewhat sticky. The seeds bear conspicuous white wings on their angles. The leaves are relatively few to each plant, from 1 to 2 inches wide, 5-parted, with the main leaf-divisions composed of 2 or 3 rather oblong lobes. The leaves borne on the upper parts of the stem are much smaller than those borne from the base. Botanists have argued over whether there may be a variety of the regular species but at present pres-ent this division does not appear to be considered as valid. While the botanists argue about the classification classifi-cation of the plant, the ranchers do not argue about its value as forage and nature lovers cannot argue about its beauty. |