Consolida

Consolida
Consolida ambigua
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Ranunculaceae
Genus:	Consolida (DC.) Gray
Species
See text.

Consolida is a genus of about 40 species of annual flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native from western Europe through the Mediterranean region east to central Asia. The common name, Larkspur, is shared with the closely related genus Delphinium.

Consolida differs from Delphinium in the flower structure, with the flowers in an open, loose, often branched spike, rather than the dense column of flowers found in Delphinium, and in the fruit, which comprises a single follicle, instead of a cluster of several together. Also unlike most Delphinium species, all Consolida species are annual.

Species

• Consolida aconiti
• Consolida ajacis (= Consolida ambigua) - Larkspur
• Consolida anthoroidea
• Consolida armeniaca
• Consolida axilliflora
• Consolida cornuta
• Consolida cruciata
• Consolida glandulosa
• Consolida hellespontica
• Consolida hohenackeri
• Consolida lineolata
• Consolida oliveriana
• Consolida olopetala
• Consolida orientalis - Eastern Larkspur
• Consolida persica
• Consolida phrygia
• Consolida raveyi
• Consolida regalis - Forking Larkspur
• Consolida saccata
• Consolida scleroclada
• Consolida staminosa
• Consolida stapfiana
• Consolida stenocarpa
• Consolida sulphurea
• Consolida thirkeana
• Consolida tomentosa

Western variants of the plant are poisonous to cattle, and cattle ranchers are very careful to avoid grazing their cattle near the plant. A common cowboy adage to that effect is that " if you rode the range all day, and were tired of ridin', eat a fistful of larkspur, and you won't be tired anymore."^{[citation needed]}

External links

• Jepson Manual Treatment
• USDA Plants Profile
• Flora of North America