30 



* DELPHINIUM laxiflorum. 



Loose-flowered Larkspur. 



POLYANDR1A TRIGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Ranunculace^e. 



DELPHINIUM. Bot. Reg. vol. 14. fol. 1192. 



D. laxiflorum ; petiolis basi non dilatatis, foliis 3-7-lobatis, lobis oblongis acutis 

 inciso-pinnatifidis superioribus subtripartitis, lobis angustis integris, racemo 

 laxo ramoso, bracteolis ovariisque pubescentibus. DC. prodr. 1. 55. 

 syst. 1. 360. 



This I conceive is what M. DeCandolle intends by 

 D. laxiflorum, which he says differs from D. montanum in 

 having a loose branched raceme, smaller bracts, oval not 

 oblong sepals, and the stem not velvety but covered with 

 spreading hairs. It is very different from what is called 

 by this name in the gardens, which is usually one of the 

 many varieties of D. intermedium. 



Independently of the downy flowers, flower-stalks and 

 ovaries, the leaves of this are remarkable. They are cor- 

 date, deeply 3- or 5-lobed, generally the former, with the 

 lobes divided into a few long finger-like crooked segments, 

 or slashes. The colour of the flowers is a bright and very 

 clear but not deep blue, a little tinged with pink outside. 

 Common report gives it to Siberia for its native country, 

 but this locality is at least apocryphal. 



It is a hardy perennial, growing 4 or 5 feet high in any 

 good garden soil, and well adapted for planting in the shrub- 

 bery ; flowers in June. It may be increased freely either by 



* See Bot. Reg. vol. 22. fol. 1503. 

 June, 1838. n 



