Yellow-Tinge Larkspur: The 38th Flower of Spring!

[best appreciated at full size against black]

I've been keeping my eyes open for the color purple, because I was on the look out for THIS flower!! On the way down to the mailbox the other day, I spotted a flash of purple in the woods, and took a detour off the road to take a look. YES!!! Our beautiful Larkspur has arrived!! These flowers are so pretty and exotic looking, it amazes me how many kinds of flowers that grow here!

Yellow-Tinge Larkspur is also called Low Larkspur or Coast Delphinium, and is just one of over 300 species in the Delphinium genus! I had a very difficult time figuring out exactly which species I photographed but judging by the yellowish petal edges, I think it's Yellow-Tinge Larkspur. If you find yourself trying to identify plants or animals, you'll discover how difficult it can be to differentiate between one or more very similar species! What a headache! :D

Yellow-Tinge Larkspur is native to southern Oregon down to San Francisco, California. It's usually seen along the coast, grasslands, and open forest like on our property. Delphinium is a popular garden flower, but did you know that it is extremely poisonous?! It is deadly to livestock and cattle ranchers will avoid moving herds into rangeland that contains Larkspur until late summer after the flowers have died. However, when carefully prepared in small doses, the seeds are used for herbal medicine, In the past, delphinium flowers were also ground up into a dye or ink, but I suspect this was done before it was understood how poisonous this plant is.

If you would like to know more about Delphinium flowers, Wiki has a page here: Wiki: Delphinium

I've uploaded two other pictures today and I hope you'll visit them too!

Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :)

NOTE! I have finally updated my profile and I hope you'll take a look to find out a little more about me and how important all of you are to my experience here on Flickr! Janet Brien (sfhipchick)

This image was taken in April, 2012.