PLATE XXI. 



L DELPHINIUM ELATUM. 



LARKSPUR. 



Tiirs genus comprises plants of the herbaceous flowery hardy 

 annual and perennial kinds. Dolphin Flower. 



It belongs to the class and order Polyamlria Trigynia, and ranks 

 in the natural order of Mulfisi/igii^e. 



The characters are: that there is no calyx: the corolla has five 

 petals, unequal, disposed in a circle; of which the uppermost in 

 some is more obtuse than the rest in front, and is extended behind 

 into a tubular, straight, long, obtuse horn: the rest ovate-lanceolate, 

 spreading, nearly equal: nectary two-cleft, seated in iiont within the 

 circle of petals on the upper part, behind slretchcd out, involved 

 within the tube of the petal : the stamina have very many filaments 

 (fifteen or thirty,) subulate, wider, at the base, very small, inclined 

 toAvards the petal : anthers erect, small: the pislillum consists of three 

 or one germ; ovate, ending in styles the length of ihe stamens: 

 stigmas simple, reflex: the pericarpium has as many capsules, ovate- 

 subulate, straight, one-valved, gaping inwards: the seeds very manVj 

 and cornered. 



The species mostly cultivated are: 1. J). ar/;oc/,s. Upright Lark- 

 spur; 2. D. grandijiorum, Great-flowered Bee Larkspur; 3. D. elatutn. 

 Tall Bee I /arks pur. 



There are other species that may be cultivated. 



The first is annual, and has the stalks eighteen inches and more 

 in height, seldom branched: the leaves are finely divided, commonly 

 by threes, on broad petioles: the segments are linear, quite entire, 



