Day 291: Every wildflower season, there are always a few names I forget. Usually it's because I have nothing with which to associate them, like the infamous "smithii" of taxonomic shame. I get as far as "Delphinium" with this one ("Larkspur" in common reference), but the second half of the binomial invariably eludes me. I never bothered to look up the source Latin for "glareosum" until this morning, but had I done, it would have linked the common and scientific names forever in my mind. "Glareosum" means "gravelly." We commonly call it "Rockslide Larkspur." Gravel or rocks, whichever you choose to call its preferred habitat, the name now makes sense. You'll find it in the subalpine zone, its intense blue lighting up grey scree fields and pediments, even putting to shame the Mountain Bluebirds who frequent the same regions. Each floret comes with its own bee, i.e., the black-and-white center typical in most Delphinium species. Young leaves are reddish-purple, turning green as they mature in sunlight.
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