Alabama larkspur

Stems (45-)60-90(-130) cm; base reddish, pubescent. Leaves mostly basal; basal leaves 2-6 at anthesis; cauline leaves 1-4 at anthesis; petiole 0.5-22 cm. Leaf blade reniform to semicircular, 2-11 × 3-19 cm, nearly glabrous; ultimate lobes 3-35, width 3-8 mm (basal), 0.5-3 mm (cauline), widest at middle or in proximal 1/2. Inflorescences 5-27-flowered; pedicel 1-5 cm, puberulent; bracteoles 3-12 mm from flowers, green, linear, 2-8 mm, puberulent. Flowers: sepals royal blue, ± drab, often partly fading upon drying, puberulent, lateral sepals spreading, 12-20 × 5-10 mm, spurs straight, horizontal to slightly ascending, (13-)15-16.5(-19) mm; lower petal blades ± covering reproductive parts, 4-10 mm, clefts 3-5 mm; hairs centered between claw and base of cleft, covering most of adaxial surface, white. Fruits 11-18 mm, 2.5-3 times longer than wide, sparsely puberulent. Seeds unwinged; surface of each seed coat cell with with swollen, blunt, hairlike structures, barely visible at 20× otherwise smooth. 2 n = 16.

Flowering mid-late spring. Very local; thin soils in and on edges of Juniperus glades on limestone substrates; of conservation concern; 100-300 m; Ala., Ga.

In addition to the Alabama sites, Delphinium alabamicum is known from one population in Georgia; it might have been transplanted there. Delphinium alabamicum has not been seen in central Alabama since 1950; populations there might have been extirpated.