Day 277: No rarity here, just a blue that'll knock your socks off! Rivalling Gentian and Monkshood for intensity of colour, Rockslide Larkspur (Delphinium glareosum) puts on a rather weedy but spectacular show, its flowers loosely arranged in an open inflorescence rising up to 30 inches above fan-shaped, mostly basal leaves. A cousin to "garden-variety" Delphiniums, this Larkspur's central "bee" provides our botany lesson for today.
As a generalization, flowers are comprised of four whorls: the calyx, the petals, the stamens (filament and anther) and the stigma/style/ovary. Not all flowers contain all these elements, and when one is lacking, they are referred to as "incomplete." In the case of Larkspur, its petals are white (the second whorl) and its sepals (segments of the calyx) are blue (the outer whorl). Its reproductive parts are concealed by the petals, a factor which limits the types of insect which can pollinate the plant. Only bugs of a specific size/shape or the deft tongue of a hummingbird can penetrate its "inner sanctum" to ensure future generations of this blue beauty.
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