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Delphinium cardinale; photograph author not stated, no rights reserved CC0author not stated, no rights reserved · observed growing wild · 2026-07-07

Delphinium cardinale Hook.

Scarlet larkspur; Cardinal Larkspur

Ranunculaceae · California, Mexico Northwest

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Delphinium cardinale, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDelphinium cardinale, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDelphinium cardinale, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDelphinium cardinale, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDelphinium cardinale, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedDelphinium cardinale, photograph author not stated, no rights reserved 92 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
1.9°C
Record low -3.0 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
30°C
Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
448mm
6 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
19–53DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes December to March, read as a winter growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Delphinium cardinale is a species of larkspur known by the common names scarlet larkspur and cardinal larkspur. This wildflower is native to California and Baja California, where it grows on coastal, inland, and desert chaparral slopes, such as the Colorado Desert, and the Peninsular and Transverse Ranges. The presence of diterpenoid alkaloids, probably including the highly toxic methyllycaconitine, in above-ground parts of D. cardinale means that they are likely to be toxic if ingested.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Delphinium cardinale", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Delphinium

Delphinium is a genus of about 300 species of annual and perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The genus was erected by Carl Linnaeus.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Delphinium", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (324 mm of 439 mm) falls in December to March, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 11.2 °C against a yearly mean of 16.0 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: June to September.

Rain

439 mm in the median year at the habitat, 324 mm of it December to March. Wettest month February at 101 mm, driest months (2 at 2 mm); 3 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 299 mm to 611 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 448 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 439 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 19 to 53 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 54).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 1.9 °C, the absolute minimum -3.0 °C, 34 frost nights in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 33.2 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 5.4 °C in January and December (across the grid cells of the range 1.6 °C to 9.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.7 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 1.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 51 to 56% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +299 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Delphinium cardinale through the yearWarmest month August, mean daily high 30 °C; coldest months January and December, mean nightly low 5.4 °C; 439 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost33.2° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-3.0° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 19–53RH 51–56%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 365 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C16 / 13–1816 / 13–1818 / 15–2020 / 18–2223 / 20–2527 / 22–2929 / 24–3230 / 25–3228 / 24–3024 / 21–2619 / 16–2116 / 12–18
Night °C5 / 2–96 / 2–107 / 3–109 / 5–1112 / 8–1314 / 12–1517 / 15–1818 / 15–1916 / 13–1813 / 9–159 / 5–125 / 2–9
Rain mm87 / 52–126101 / 64–13670 / 48–9831 / 20–489 / 4–132 / 2–42 / 1–83 / 1–146 / 5–1121 / 13–2841 / 27–5766 / 43–97
DLI21 / 19–2426 / 24–2935 / 34–3844 / 43–4650 / 48–5153 / 51–5451 / 49–5247 / 46–4840 / 39–4231 / 30–3424 / 22–2619 / 17–22
RH %52 / 49–5555 / 52–5856 / 52–6055 / 50–6056 / 48–6254 / 44–6252 / 43–6151 / 43–6052 / 44–5952 / 46–5851 / 47–5551 / 48–55
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 365 grid cells holding the 1189 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1145:1264 (32.725, -116.775). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -3.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 1.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 33.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 365 distinct grid cells holding 1189 of the 1189 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1145:1264 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.50_-116.875, lapse-corrected +299 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 693 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCalifornia, Mexico Northwest · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker34.135, -118.323 · in the densest population, 1121 records (84% of those in range)
Kew's description“perennial” · “subtropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1339 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1189 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 287 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 31 km away. 150 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 1339 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Delphinium cardinale, photograph 1did not loadDelphinium cardinale, photograph 2did not loadDelphinium cardinale, photograph 3did not loadDelphinium cardinale, photograph 4did not loadDelphinium cardinale, photograph 5did not loadDelphinium cardinale, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (6).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Selaginella bigelovii Selaginella bigelovii Bushy spikemoss Photo: CC BY, Matt BergerCuscuta californica Cuscuta californica California dodder Photo: CC BY, Gavin SkeenDelphinium parryi Delphinium parryi Parry's larkspur Photo: CC BY, Jason Schock Hemionitis californica Pteridaceae Galium angustifolium Galium angustifolium Narrow-leaf bedstraw Photo: CC0, author not statedLupinus hirsutissimus Lupinus hirsutissimus Stinging annual lupine Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Delphinium 71 in the reference

Delphinium ajacis Delphinium ajacis Rocket larkspur Photo: CC BY, olmagonDelphinium alabamicum Delphinium alabamicum Alabama larkspur Photo: CC0, author not statedDelphinium anthriscifolium Delphinium anthriscifolium Ranunculaceae Photo: CC BY, mami_t_tDelphinium bakeri Delphinium bakeri Baker's larkspur Photo: CC BY, Trevor Van LoonDelphinium barbeyi Delphinium barbeyi Barbey's larkspur Photo: CC BY, Alissa Iverson Delphinium beesianum Ranunculaceae Delphinium bicolor Delphinium bicolor Little larkspur Photo: CC0, author not statedDelphinium brunonianum Delphinium brunonianum Musk larkspur Photo: CC BY, Johannes S. Delphinium bulleyanum Ranunculaceae Delphinium caeruleum Ranunculaceae Delphinium californicum Delphinium californicum California larkspur Photo: CC0, author not statedDelphinium carolinianum Delphinium carolinianum Carolina larkspur Photo: CC0, author not stated all 72 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Delphinium cardinale var. angustifolium; Delphinium coccineum; Delphinium flammeum. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Ranunculaceae
Described by
Hook.
Native to
California, Mexico Northwest
Wild records
1339 in range · 287 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 44 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (24 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 16 at a herbarium, 4 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 32.50_-116.875, lapse-corrected +299 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 43 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…