30 



NATURAL HISTOnY OF PLAXTP. 



/^' 



Delphinium Staphisagria. 

 Fig. 57. Fig. 58. 



external iiiteguuR'iit is unequally thickened, so that its surface 

 presents a mesh of anastomosing ridges (figs. 57 and 58). Stavesacre 

 is usually a biennial. 



There is, then, no essential difference 

 between DeljjJdnium and Aconitum. It is 

 true that the form of one sepal and of 

 the petals differs usually.' The large 

 posterior petals of an Aconite have a 

 »#i li^^ f- hood-like limb on a long claw, while the 



Larkspurs have the limb sessile, or nearly 

 so, and cornet-shaped. The lateral petals, 

 Seed. Longitudinal section wheu present, are mcmbranous and flat- 

 of same. teued in the Larkspurs, while they are 



represented by short linear rods in the Aconites. But these are 

 ditlerences of form which do not affect the general structure of the 

 flower. It is further true that the posterior sepal is broad, shallow, 

 and helmet-shaped in A. NapcJIus, while it is much narrower and 

 more elongated in Deljjhini/oii, where we call it a spur. But this 

 same sepal becomes very long and narrow in Aconites like Lycoc- 

 ionum, while the anterior sepals at the same time disappear, as in most 

 Larkspurs. The floral symmetry, the gynseceum, the fruit, the seeds, 

 the inflorescence, and the habit are the same in both types ; and 

 hence we have proposed,- and still propose, to unite them into one 

 genus under the name of DcIphiniKw,} 



All these plants have, too, except in a few particular cases,^ the 



' And we must even add that tliis difference 

 of form disappears entirely in the Larkspurs 

 which Si'ACii {I. eil.) has separated under the 

 name of Aconitella. In this small group the 

 spur of the posterior sepal has exactly the same 

 conformation as that oi Aconitum Lycoctomim, 

 iind the allied species. Sometimes the petal op- 

 jwsite this posterior sepal has itself an acute 

 spur, as in D.jlavum DC. ; or, as in D. Aconiti 

 L. and anth oroides Boiss, the spur may be 

 twisted into a long spiral towards its extremity 

 as in A. Lycoctonum. Besides, we must re- 

 mark that in all these plants there is only a 

 single caqK'l as in IJ. ConsoUda, and Ajacis, and 

 that tlie posterior sepal sometimes does not pre- 

 sent in limb or claw the least sign of dedupli- 

 cation. On the other hand, certain large flow- 

 ered Larkspurs from India have exactly the 

 habit of certain Ac(jnitcs, and it is impossible to 

 see why the rounded and somewhat concave pos- 

 terior sepal deserves tlie name of spur, rather 



than hood. As for the foliage, which is not ex- 

 actly the same in our common species of Aconite 

 and Larkspur, to show how unimportant a cha- 

 racter that is, it will suffice to recal to mind the 

 existence of ^. deJpliinifoUum (See., I. cit., 359). 

 ^ Adansonia iv. 12, 48. 



Eudelphinium. 



{T)elph inastrum, Delpldnellum.^ 



ConsoUda {Phledinium, 



Aconitella.^ 



Staph isagria. 



Lycoctonum. 



Aconitum. 



[Napellus,Cammarum,Anthora^ 

 species are annuals. Others have 

 sarmentose slender stems, and alternate leaves 

 distant from one another, on a level with which 

 the flowers are grouped into short racemes. 

 Such are A. volubile Pall., and the Chinese 

 climber with palmiveined three-lobed leaves 

 whicli may be called -D. (A.) hvmuUnum. 



DelpJiiuium 

 Sections 5. 



■• Certain 



