ROCKET LARKSPUR
File Size: 91 KB
 
Consolida ajacis   (L. ) Schur
[=Delphinium ajacis L.]
Brown County, Kansas
Annual
Height: 12-40 inches
Family: Ranunculaceae - Buttercup Family
Flowering Period:   June, July, August
Stems: Erect, glabrous or sparsely and minutely pubescent.
Leaves: Cauline, alternate; petiole present or absent; blade simple, broadly ovate to nearly round in outline, .8 to 2.4 inch long, .6 to 2 inches wide, margins deeply palmately dissected, surfaces glabrous or puberulent.
Inflorescences: Racemes, 5-50(-80)-flowered, terminal; involucral bracts absent.
Flowers: Bilaterally symmetric; sepals 5, white, pink, blue, or purple, .4 to .6 inch, upper sepal spurred; petals 2, connate, white, pink, blue, or purple, spurred, spurs enclosed within spur of upper sepal, lobes 1/6 to 1/3 inch; stamens 15-25; pistils 1; style persistent; stigma 1.
Fruits: Follicles, cylindric, .5 to 1 inch, minutely pubescent; beak terminal, straight, 1/25 to 1/12 inch; seeds dark brown to black, angled.
Habitat: Roadsides, pastures, disturbed sites
Distribution: Throughout Kansas
Origin: Introduced; escaped and more or less naturalized
Uses: The Cherokee took an infusion to treat heart ailments.
Comments: Consolida, to become solid, alluding to the supposed wound-healing abilities and ajacis, for the Greek hero Ajax, alluding to the shield-like marks on the petals.

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