[Illustration: Delphinium amabile D. scaposum] Common names: LARKSPUR, WILD-DELPHINIUM Arizona desert: (_Delphinium scaposum_). Royal blue. March-May. California desert: (_Delphinium parishi_) Sky blue. Spring. Texas desert: (_Delphinium carolinianum_). Blue. Spring. Crowfoot family. Size: Up to 2 feet in height. Desert Larkspurs are low-growing, spring or early summer-flowering in habit, often occurring in colonies, and frequently intermingle with other spring flowers thereby adding their blue to the colorful tapestry of ground cover. They are readily recognized because of their resemblance to the cultivated varieties called Delphiniums, and because of the tubular extension or “spur.” _D. amabile_ is the most drought-resistant of all southwestern species and may blossom in the desert as early as February. Because they contain delphinine and other toxic alkaloids, Larkspurs are poisonous to livestock, particularly sheep. On the desert, the plants are small and bear few but beautiful blossoms. They prefer open, gravelly soil. It is reported that the Hopi Indians grind Larkspur blossoms with corn to produce blue meal. BLUE [Illustration: Dalea mollis Dalea spinosa Dalea formosa] Common names: SMOKETREE, INDIGOBUSH, PEABUSH Arizona and California deserts: (_Dalea spinosa_). Blue-violet. April-June. Texas deserts: (_Dalea formosa_). Purple. March-June. Pea family. Size: Up to 10 or 12 feet tall. Famous, although not common, throughout the frostless areas of the desert, the Smoketree, because of its gray-green, leafless, plume-like growth resembles at a distance a gray cloud of smoke hovering over a desert campfire. When in flower, in May or June, it is one of the handsomest of desert shrubs. It is always found in the bed of a sandy wash where it obtains moisture from runoff following summer showers or winter rains. In California, it occurs in portions of both the Mohave and the Colorado Deserts, and in Arizona is restricted to the western part of the state. It is fairly abundant near Quitobaquito in the southwestern corner of Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Other species of Indigobush, of which there are many, are less famous than the Smoketree, but all have purple or indigo flowers and most of them are beautiful and noticeable when in blossom. Indians used an extract from the twigs for dyeing basket material and ate the roots of _D. terminalis_. BLUE [Illustration: Rumex hymenosepalus]