DELPHINIUM. 



DELPHINIUM. 



Sepals deciduous, petaloid, irregular: the upper prolonged 

 at the back into a spur. Petals 4 ; the two upper extended at 

 the base into appendages inclosed within the spur. 



29. D. Consolida Linn. sp. pi. 748. Fl. Dan. t. 683. Eng. 

 Bot. t. 1839. DC. prodr. i. 51. Corn fields all over Europe ; 

 also the Crimea, and North America, where it has possibly been 

 introduced. 



Root simple, slender. Herbage downy, especially the stern and 

 capsule. Stem 1^-2 feet high, erect, leafy, with alternate spreading 

 branches. Leaves - sessile, in many deep divisions, which are 3-cleft and 

 subdivided into narrow linear acute segments. Racemes terminal, lax, 

 of but few flowers. Bracts simple or divided, longer than the pedicels. 

 Flowers bright blue or purple. Corolla monopetalous; two spurs 

 combined in one. Seeds angular, black, very rough. A tincture of 

 the seed in doses of 20-30 drops has been recommended in asthma ; 

 it produces slight nausea, but in over doses is injurious. The leaves and 

 stalks are said to enter into the composition of some cosmetics, which, 

 although efficient at first, are found by continued use to be very de- 

 structive to the skin. Burnett. 



30. D. Staphisagria Linn. sp. pi. 750. Fl Grcec. t. 508. 

 Woodv.t. 154. S. andC.'i. t. 55. STa^o-ay^a, Dioscorides. 

 - Waste places in the south of Europe, the Levant, and the 



Canaries. 



A stout upright herb. Stems and petioles hispid with long soft 

 hairs. Leaves broad, palmated, stalked, 5-9-cleft. Pedicels hairy, at 

 least an inch long. Bracts inserted at their base. Flowers in lax 

 racemes, bluish gray : the petals dirty white ; the two lower spathulate. 

 Spur hardly two lines long. Capsules 3, large, villous. Seeds globose, 

 3-cornered, thick, black, with an acrid taste. Seeds extremely 

 poisonous. They owe this quality to a peculiar alkali called Delphinia. 

 They are emetic, drastic, and inflammatory, never used internally ; 

 are said to be useful in scabies and fungous ulcerations ; but are 

 chiefly used in destroying pediculi in the head. 



ACONITUM. 



Sepals petaloid, irregular, deciduous or withering, the upper 

 sepal concave and helmet-shaped. Petals 2, on long stalks, pro- 

 longed at the apex into a bag hidden beneath the helmet. 



The powerful acrid properties of the root in this poisonous genus 

 probably pervade all the species, and have certainly been recognised in 

 many. The following examples are the most notorious. A large 

 number of those which stand as species in the writings of systematic 

 botanists are mere varieties of a very unimportant description. De 

 Candolle has reduced many of them to their legitimate rank ; but he 

 has by no means carried the reduction far enough. According to 

 that botanist, the species which belong to the section Napellus are the 

 most fearful in their effects ; and those akin to that of Anthora, the 

 least so. 

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