Dwarf Larkspur
Delphinium tricorne
Found in moist forests; prairies and grasslands. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 100%
- Height
- 1–3 feet
- Spread
- 1–1.5 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Usually moist
Space about 1 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 100 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- March to May
Not yet recorded · Leaves
Recorded in 39 Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Who uses this plant?
12CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Delphinium
- Endothenia hebesanaVerbena Bud Moth
- Eurois occultaGreat Grey Dart, Great Brocade
- Hedya separatanaPink-Washed Leafroller Moth
- Heliothis phloxiphagaSpotted Straw Sun Moth, Darker Spotted Straw Moth
- Megalographa bilobaBilobed Looper Moth
- Papaipema cataphractaBurdock Border, Potato-Stalk Borer
- Papaipema nebrisStalk Borer
- Pyrrhia ciliscaAmerican Bordered Sallow, Noble Sun Moth
- Pyrrhia exprimensPurple-Lined Sallow, Purple-Lined Sun Moth
- Sparganothis unifascianaOne-Lined Sparganothis
Show all 12
- Udea rubigalisCelery Leaftier
- Polychrysia morigera
7BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Delphinium
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Delphinium
- Centrocercus urophasianusGreater Sage-Grouse
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Adult butterflies / moths 3
- Anosia plexippus
- Deilephila lineata
- Papilio asterias
Flower visits · Carlinville, Illinois, USA
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Ranunculaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 4a–7b
- Soil pH
- Neutral
- Flower color
- Blue, purple or white
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “March to May” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Blue, purple or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Hardiness · “Zones 4a–7b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differs)
- Height · “1–3 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differ)
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Virginia DCR Piedmont, Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differ)
- Soil · “Moist” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Tennessee Smart Yards, Virginia DCR Piedmont, Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differ)
- Soil pH · “Neutral” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “1–1.5 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differs)
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | S4 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| VA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- FloraQuest: Northern Tier (Weakley), phone app (app page)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications