Delphinium glaciale Hook. f. & Thomson, Fl. Ind. 53. 1855 & in Fl. Brit. India 1: 27. 1872.

Perennial herbs with musky odour; rootstocks woody; stems 6 - 15 cm high, simple, leafy, pubescent with spreading hairs, some glandular with swollen bases. Leaves reniform, 2 - 5 cm wide, deeply 3-partite; segments cuneate at base, lanceolate, acute at apex, sparsely pubescent; petioles broad and sheathed at base, up to 5 cm long. Flowers subglobose, few, up to 5 in corymbs; bracts multifid, up to 2 cm long; pedicels erect, stout, 2 - 6 cm long; bracteoles 3 or more, much divided, 10 - 15 mm long, placed scattered on pedicels. Sepals pale blue, membranous, veined; upper sepal broadly ovate or obovate, acute, 2.5 - 3 x 2 cm; spur 12 - 15 cm long, 7 - 8 mm wide at base, saccate, slightly curved; lateral sepals broadly ovate, 1.8 - 2.3 x 1.5 - 1.7 cm, semicircular on lower edge, straight on upper edge; lower sepals round-rhombic, ca 30 mm long and wide. Petals black; upper petals upwardly curved, 12 - 15 x 2 - 3 mm, bearded, sharply bilobed at apex; spur ca 13 mm long; lower petals oblong, ca 6 x 3 mm, bifid up to middle into acute lobes, ciliate-pubescent near base. Stamens 8 - 9 mm long, ciliate and much widened at base; anthers dark, ca 2 mm long. Follicles 5, subglabrous, 11 - 13 mm long; seeds winged along 3 angles, ca 1.5 mm long.

Fl. & Fr. July - Oct.

Distrib. India: Alpine scrubs and slopes, 4500 - 6000 m. Sikkim.

Nepal and Bhutan.