222 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



and delphinoidine are probably decomposition products of delphinine. 

 The seeds also contain 25 to 30 per cent of a fixed oil; an equal 

 amount of proteins; 8 or 9 per cent of ash; and several resins. 



Allied Plants. A number of other species of Delphinium have 

 been investigated and found to have poisonous properties. 



DELPHINIUM. Larkspur Seed. The seeds of the field lark- 

 spur, Delphinium Consolida (Fam. Ranunculacese), a common annual 

 herb, widely distributed throughout Europe and somewhat natural- 

 ized in the eastern United States. The dried seeds are replacing 

 Staphisagria to some extent. They resemble the latter in form, but 

 are of a black or blackish-brown color and about 2 mm. in 

 diameter. The constituents appear to be identical with those 

 of Staphisagria. 



The tall larkspur (Delphinium urceolatum) is common to the 

 stock ranges of the Western States, and cattle grazing in these terri- 

 tories become poisoned by eating it. The plant is said to lose its 

 toxic properties after it has flowered. The low larkspur has the 

 same poisonous properties as the former. In case of poisoning, it 

 is customary to keep the animal's head erect and to give, hypodermic 

 injections of physostigmine and whiskey. 



Pulsatilla. The entire herb of Anemone Pulsatilla, A. pra- 

 tensis, and A. patens (Fam. Ranunculacese), perennial herbs indig- 

 enous to central and southern Europe. The entire herbs are gathered 

 in the early spring, when the flowers are in bloom, and carefully 

 dried. It should be kept in air-tight containers. Pulsatilla deterio- 

 rates with age. 



Description. Leaves radical, long petioled, 2 or 3 parted or 

 pinnately-cleft, the lobes linear and acute; flowers solitary on long 

 scapes and subtended by a pinnately parted involucre of 3 sessile 

 leaves; the flowers consist of large showy sepals, which in A. pul- 

 satilla and A. patens are of a light violet or blue color, and in A. 

 pratensis a dark blue; stamens numerous, being as long as the petals 

 in A. pratensis and much shorter in A. pulsatilla; pistils numerous, 

 becoming in fruit long, plumose, flattened achenes; odor slight, but 

 when fresh penetrating; taste very acrid. For illustrations of leaves, 

 flowers and fruits, see Kraemer's Applied and Economic Botany, 

 Fig. 359. 



Powder. Grayish-green; fragments of epidermis with undu- 

 late-polygonal cells and elliptical stomata; non-glandular hairs 

 numerous, unicellular, from 0.230 to 2.5 mm. in length and from 

 C.010 to 0.020 mm. in diameter, with very thick walls and narrow 

 lumina; parenchyma cells with microcrystals. 



