Carolina larkspur

Delphinium carolinianum, the Carolina or prairie larkspur, is a slender perennial herbaceous plant in the Ranunculaceae native to the central and southeastern United States, where it grows in prairies, glades, open woodland, and roadsides on well-drained soils. Plants arise from a cluster of small, brittle, fascicled tuberous roots and produce one or several erect, finely pubescent, leafy stems 30 to 120 centimetres tall. The alternate leaves are palmately divided into 3 to 7 narrow, deeply cleft segments, the basal leaves long-petiolate and the cauline reduced upwards. The inflorescence is an elongate terminal raceme of 5 to 30 zygomorphic flowers, each with five showy petaloid sepals (the upper extended into a long, slender, hollow spur) and four small inner petals; flower colour varies from deep blue and purple to white across subspecies. The fruit is a cluster of three erect, finely pubescent follicles dehiscing along the ventral suture to release flat, dark brown, scaly seeds. All parts contain toxic diterpene alkaloids.