DELPHINIUM PEREGRINUM

Family and Genus:- See- RANUNCULACEAE/Sect. Delphinium

Common Names:- Violet larkspur.

Homotypic Synonyms:- Delphinium eriocarpum, Delphinium hirschfeldianum,

Delphinium junceum

Meaning:- Delphinium (Gr) Dolphin. A name used by the Greek physician and

botanist Dioscorides for the unopened flower's appearance.

Peregrinum (Gr) Strange,foreign, exotic.

General description:- Slender annual with a few long, ascending to spreading

branches in the upper half.

Stems:-

1) (15-)30-80 cm, erect, pruinose, pubescent throughout or only at the base, with

ascending branches.

Leaves:-

1) Basal, usually withered at anthesis.

2) Cauline, once or twice palmatisect into linear-lanceolate, acute segments.

Flowers:-

1) Inflorescence, a rather dense raceme, elongated in fruit.

2) Flowers, puberulent, varying in shades of dusky violet or bluish-violet, often

bicolorous.

3) Spur, of the upper sepal, 1.5-2 times as long as the limb, somewhat curved and

ascending.

4) Limb, of the lateral honey leaves, elliptic-obovate, equalling and gradually

attenuate into the claw.

Fruit:-

1) Follicles, 3.5-8 mm, densely pubescent to subglabrous.

2) Seeds, numerous, covered with transverse membranous scales.

Key features:-

1) Limb, of the upper honey-leaves with, lateral wings.

2) Limb, of the lateral honey-leaves cuneate at the base, gradually narrowed into

the claw.

3) Spur, of the perianth-segments, up to twice as long as the segments.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Garigue, phygana, fallow fields, dry grassland, stony beaches, open

woodland. 0-900 m.

Distribution:- Most of Greece, but rare in the far NE, - Balkan Peninsula mainly in

the S & W, rare in Italy and Bulgaria, through Anatolia to N Iraq and NW Iran. Very

rare on Crete, currently know only from one area.

Flowering time:- Mid-May to Aug.

Photos by:- Giorgos Pantakis