Delphinium malabaricum
(Huth) Munz in J. Arn. Arb. 49: 106, f. 142:1968;
Billore & Singh in Indian For. 98: 407 -
408.1972. D. dasycaulon var.malabaricum Huth
in Bot. Jahrb. 20: 435. 1895. D. dasycaulon auct. non Fresen; Hook. f. & Thomson in Fl.
Brit. India 1: 25. 1872.
Perennial herbs with woody cylindrical rhizome; stems 30 -
100 cm high, slender,
glabrous to retrorse pubescent below, pale to bright yellowish strigose in inflorescence,
simple or few-branched above, remotely few-leaved. Lower petioles 10 -
25 cm long,
glabrous to somewhat pubescent, strongly sheathed at base; cauline petioles reduced,
upper very short. Leaf blades somewhat reniform, 3 -
10 cm across, glabrous or nearly
so above, with few to many stiff hairs along margin and the veins beneath, 5- to 7-fid for
up to half their length; segments broadly cuneate-obovate, mostly bifid, then coarsely
toothed with broad entire or dentate teeth with mucronate tips; middle cauline leaves
more deeply divided with entire or 3-toothed segments. Inflorescences consisting of 1
to few, rather densely several-flowered racemes; lower bracts leafy, trifid, 2 -
4 cm long;
upper bracts linear, entire, 6 -
10 mm long; pedicels divergent, 5 -
20 mm long, strigose;
bracteoles subulate, placed near the base or middle of pedicels. Sepals bright blue with
a somewhat subterminal spot, strigose to subglabrous; upper sepal ovate, 10 -
14 x 5 -
7
mm; spur subconic, obtuse, 7 -
12 x 3 -
4 mm; lateral sepals elliptie-obovate, truncate-
rounded at apex, 13 -
16 x 7 -
9 mm; lower sepals narrowly obovate, 11 -
13 x 5 -
7 mm.
Upper petals slightly oblique, obtusely bilobed at apex, ca 10 mm long, glabrous; spur ca 7 mm long; lower petals rounded to oblong, bilobed up to base, ca 7 x 5 mm,
short-ciliate and strigulose; claw ca 5 mm long. Stamens 6 -
7 mm long, ciliate; anthers
bluish, rounded, less than 1 mm long. Follicles strigulose or glabrous, divergent, ca 1
cm long; seeds with papillose scaly covering or rugulose and without scaly covering.
KEY TO THE VARIETIES
| 1a. Plants with bright yellowish tomentum; spur 10 - 12 mm long; follicles glabrous; seeds rugulose without scaly covering | 16.1. ghaticum |
| b. Plants with pale yellowish tomentum; spur 7 - 9 mm long; follicles strigulose; seeds with papillose scaly covering | 16.2. malabaricum |
