This large-scale plant towers up to 7-feet tall beside mountain trails from the Manzano to the Sangre de Christo mountains. The tall bloom stalk and giant leaves contrast the petit flowers that barely open. Note the hairy, reddish-brown flowers have a stubby spur. This species is common in the Sandia Mountains but infrequent elsewhere, and included on the NM Rare Plants List.

FLOWERS: July–September. Loose spike (raceme) with 20–100 flowers on upper stem; flowers reddish-brown to yellow in bud and blooming, to 5/8-inch long (15 mm) including stubby spur, covered with glandular hairs.

LEAVES: Alternate. Blade smooth (glabrous), palmately divided into 5–7 lobes, each further dissected into lobes or teeth; lower blades 3–6 inches long (8–16 cm) and 2–4 inches wide (6–10 cm), upper leaves smaller.

HABITAT: Limestone soils, canyons, open meadows; ponderosa, spruce-fir forests.

ELEVATION: 7,500–12,000 feet.

RANGE: NM in the Sandia, Manzano, Jemez, and southern

Sangre de Cristo mountains.

SIMILAR SPECIES: The tall stems and small reddish-brown flowers distinguish this species. The rare-listed Robust Larkspur, D. robustum, in the Jemez, San Pedro, San Antonio, and Sangre de Cristo mountains (Colfax, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Taos counties), has similar leaves but blue to lavender flowers. The rare-listed, 3–8 foot-tall New Mexico Larkspur, D. novomexicanum, with blue flowers, grows in the Sacramento and White mountains (Lincoln, Otero counties). See photos.

NM COUNTIES: Central NM mountains in mid- to high-elevation habitats: Bernalillo, Los Alamos, Mora, Sandoval, San Miguel, Santa Fe, Taos, Torrance.