Consolida ajacis (L.) Schur.

Locations ofConsolida ajacis (L.) Schur. in Virginia

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Detail

Family
Ranunculaceae
Botanical Name
Consolida ajacis (L.) Schur.
Common Name
Rocket Larkspur
Synonym(s)
Delphinium ajacis L.
Flora of Virginia Name/Status
Delphinium ajacis L.
Comments
Although Flora of Virginia and Flora of the Southeastern U.S. (FSUS) include Consolida in Delphinium, we continue to follow FNA in separating them. The phylogenetic study by Jabbour & Renner (2011, Taxon 60: 1029-1040) does not seem as “convincing” as FSUS states. Their phylogeny shows a monophyletic Aconitella-Consolida clade, that could be merged to retain Consolida as a monophyletic group. They reject that option because the next nearest clade (of Delphinium) has only 64% bootstrap support (not great but not terrible), whereas the next step back in their tree has 88% bootstrap support which they consider adequate. Accepting that places the aforementioned Delphinium clade in with Consolida and Aconitella and rendering them part of the larger Delphinium clade. Given that Consolida is a diversified genus in its own right, with many Mediterranean species and morphological characters that strongly diverge from Delphinium – e.g., two petals (vs 4), 1 follicle (vs 3-5), more finely dissected leaves, and annual (vs perennial) habit – it seems justified to consider the available molecular data ambiguous and retain the generic status of Consolida.
Habitat
Fields, roadsides, and other open, disturbed habitats. Infrequent throughout.
Native Status
Introduced

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