LARKSPUR

any of about 300 species of herbaceous plants constituting the genus Delphinium of the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae), many of which are grown for their showy flower stalks. Annual larkspurs (sometimes separated as the genus Consolida) include the common rocket larkspur (D. ajacis or C. ambigua) and its varieties, up to 60 centimetres (2 feet) tall, with bright blue, pink, or white flowers on branching stalks. Perennial larkspurs, which tend toward blue flowers but vary to pink, white, red, and yellow, include a puzzling assemblage of species, among them D. cashmerianum and D. grandiflorum, from 30 to 100 cm tall, and D. elatum, up to 180 cm tall. Many hybrids have arisen, notably the Belladonna and Bellamosa types, which bear large blue to violet flowers on tall branched spires.