39 



THE LARKSPURS (Delphinium sp.) Buttercup Family. 



Plate XV. 



Common Names : The larkspurs are sometimes referred to in literature 

 as knight's spurs, lark's-heel, lark's-claw and stavesacre. In France the 

 common names are pieds d'alouette, herbe Sainte-Athalie, fleur d'amour. 



Description: They fall naturally into two groups, the tall and the 

 low or dwarf species. The tall larkspurs, of which there are several species 

 in Western Canada, grow from three to six feet high. The general outline 

 of the leaves is round but they are deeply palmately cut into three to seven 

 lobes like the leaves of the buttercup, the sections being very narrow or 

 broadly wedge-shaped according to their number. The flowers are 

 arranged in a narrow, sparingly-branched panicle or simple loose raceme 

 from four to ten inches in length. Each flower is about an inch or an inch 

 and a half broad, with a spur projecting at the back. The colour varies 

 from a bright blue to a dull purplish blue, or in some species very pale 

 violet and yellow. The seed vessels are about half an inch long, erect, 

 dry, ending in a short beak. The seeds are numerous, small, with a loose 

 coat. The plants are in bloom during June and July, sometimes earlier 

 or later according to season and locality. The low larkspurs are similar 

 in general appearance but are only six inches to three feet in height. 



Distribution: Practically all of the species of larkspur growing wild 

 in Canada are native. They are common in Alberta and British Columbia. 



Poisonous Properties : The toxic nature of the larkspurs has been 

 recognized since early classic days, but it is only in comparatively recent 

 literature that reference is made to. them as some of the most important 

 of the stock-poisoning plants. The greatest losses occur in North America. 

 Chesnut says, ^'They have proved nearly as fatal to stock as the water 

 hemlocks, and probably kill a larger number than any other class of plants." 



As far as can be determined, the poisonous principles of only a few of 

 the Canadian species have been studied. In 1913, Loy, Heyl, and Hepner 

 isolated an alkaloid in an impure form from two species in Wyoming which 

 also grow in Canada, D. nelsonii and D. glaucum. In 1910, Marsh and 

 Clawson carried on feeding experiments with several species — including 

 D. menziesii and D. hicolor, two low larkspurs of the West — which proved 

 them to be highly poisonous to cattle. Two European species, D. Con- 

 solida and D. Staphisagria contain the four alkaloids, delphinine 

 which is very poisonous and bitter, delphisine which is extremely poisonous, 

 delphinoidine also poisonous, and staphisagrine. No doubt the closely 

 related Canadian species are of a similar nature. Marsh and Clawson, 

 who have carried on extensive work with several species in the Western 

 States, came to the conclusion that other species had the same properties 

 as those experimented with, and that there was no marked difference in 

 toxicity between the diiferent species of larkspur. 



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