Species
+

Delphinium ajacis L.

Doubtful knight's-spur (EN), Garten-Ackerrittersporn (DE), Larkspur, Oriental knight’s larkspur

Climate known 57 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Consolida ajacis is an annual flowering plant of the family Ranunculaceae native to Eurasia. It is widespread in other areas, including much of North America, where it is an introduced species. It is frequently grown in gardens as an ornamental for its spikes of blue, pink or white flowers. It may reach a meter in height. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Consolida ajacis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

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.

Text from Wikipedia, “Delphinium”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Ranunculaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Corse, France, Albania +21
Wild records
678 in range· 441 open

At a glance

Warmest month
24°C
Jul, mean day; nights 15 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
835mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Oct 84 mm (CHELSA)
Light
7–39DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January and April to June in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 835 mm a year, wettest October at 84 mm, driest February at 55 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 7 to 39 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -4.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Ceratosanthus ajacis (L.) Schur; Ceratostanthus ajacis (L.) Schur; Consolida ajacis (L.) Nieuwl.; Consolida ajacis (L.) Schur; Consolida ambigua (L.) P.W.Ball & Heywood and 33 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (September to January and April to June in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (598 mm of 835 mm) takes 8 months, September to January and April to June. Mean temperature moves 16.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to July and October to December.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: 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 gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 835 mm a year, wettest October at 84 mm, driest February at 55 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

835 mm a year at the habitat, 598 mm of it September to January and April to June. Wettest month October at 84 mm, driest February at 55 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 665 mm to 1163 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

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

Light Open sky over the habitat: 7 to 39 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 7 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 4, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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.

Warmth and air Cold floor -4.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -4.0 °C, the absolute minimum -9.2 °C, about 31 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 36.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 0.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells -3.3 °C to 3.0 °C), warmest day 24.2 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 58 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 6 °C in Jan to 24 °C in Jul; mean night from 1 °C in Jan to 15 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 835 mm of rain a year, most in Oct. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 610 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -9.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 36.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°40°frost36.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-9.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100125150mm rainDLI 7–39RH 58–66 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 610 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C6 / 4–108 / 5–1111 / 9–1414 / 12–1618 / 16–2122 / 19–2524 / 22–2824 / 22–2821 / 18–2416 / 14–1910 / 8–137 / 4–10
Night °C1 / -3–31 / -3–33 / -0–55 / 3–89 / 7–1212 / 10–1515 / 13–1815 / 13–1812 / 10–159 / 6–124 / 1–72 / -2–4
Rain mm70 / 49–10255 / 41–8560 / 46–8469 / 49–10475 / 54–11370 / 39–9260 / 22–7962 / 37–8371 / 49–11184 / 67–13480 / 59–13079 / 59–123
DLI9 / 5–1315 / 10–1923 / 17–2830 / 27–3535 / 32–4038 / 34–4539 / 33–4634 / 28–4025 / 20–3016 / 12–2010 / 6–147 / 4–11
RH %66 / 59–6863 / 58–6561 / 57–6360 / 57–6160 / 57–6159 / 55–6158 / 53–6158 / 54–6160 / 57–6363 / 60–6565 / 60–6866 / 60–69

Each figure is the median across the 610 grid cells holding the 662 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1042:4042 (37.875, 22.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -9.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 36.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 610 distinct grid cells holding the 662 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1042:4042 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 38.00_21.875, lapse-corrected +36 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 698 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 every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCorse, France, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia, Turkmenistan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, Afghanistan, East Aegean Is., Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Turkey, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Tibet, Pakistan, West Himalaya, Vietnam· introduced: Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Spain, Romania, Baltic States, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Uzbekistan, Cyprus, Iraq, Korea, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Montana, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, District of Columbia, Mexico Southwest, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador
Kew's description“annual” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker45.667, 3.225 · in the densest population, 557 records (82% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 678 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 441 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 49 km away. 942 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 16 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 678 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Delphinium ajacisDelphinium ajacisDelphinium ajacisDelphinium ajacisDelphinium ajacisDelphinium ajacisDelphinium ajacisDelphinium ajacis

Photographs: (c) jamie-aa, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) jyoung2399, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); (c) Светлана Хапугина, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); no rights reserved · CC0; (c) Daniel Linzbauer, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Delphinium ajacis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Use of a Nitric Oxide Donor Compound to Extend the Vase Life of Cut Flowers
D. Badiyan, R. B. H. Wills, Michael C. Bowyer (2004) · HortScience
Biochemical frontiers of allelopathy
George R. Waller (1989) · Biologia Plantarum
Diterpenoid Alkaloids from Delphinium ajacis and Their Anti-RSV Activities
Li Yang, Yubo Zhang, Ling Zhuang, Tao Li (2016) · Planta Medica
Ajadinine: A New Norditerpenoid Alkaloid from the Seeds of Delphinium ajacis. The Complete Nmr Assignments for Some Lycoctonine-Type Alkaloids
Haridutt K. Desai, Brian T. Cartwright, S. William Pelletier (1994) · Journal of Natural Products
Structures of Ajacusine and Ajadine, Two New C19-Diterpenoid Alkaloids from Delphinium ajacis L.
S. William Pelletier, Rajinder S. Sawhney (1978) · Heterocycles
New Norditerpenoid Alkaloids from the Leaves of Delphinium ajacis
Jing Lü, Haridutt K. Desai, Samir A. Ross, Hanaa M. Sayed (1993) · Journal of Natural Products
The structure of ajabicine, a novel diterpenoid alkaloid from Delphinium ajacis
Balawant S. Joshi, Mohindar S. Puar, Haridutt K. Desai, Samir A. Ross (1993) · Tetrahedron Letters
Norditerpenoid Alkaloids from the Stems and Leaves of Delphinium ajacis
Xihui Liang, Samir A. Ross, Youvraj R. Sohni, Hanaa M. Sayed (1991) · Journal of Natural Products

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Delphinium 2 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 213 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.