4 DELPHINIUM STAPHISAGRIA 



anterior broadly oval, blunt. Petals usually 4, the two posterior 

 narrowly oblong, erect, connected below, each prolonged at the 

 base behind into a thick hard tapering spur projecting backward 

 into the pouch of the posterior sepal, the two lateral wing-like, 

 with a long claw and a dilated unilateral rounded limb some- 

 what crisped on the margin. Stamens numerous, hypogynous, 

 filaments curved, dilated below, anthers yellow. Carpels 3, erect, 

 tapering, covered with silky hairs, with few ovules in a double 

 row, styles rather long, smooth, shortly bifid. Fruit of 3 thick, 

 oblong, erect, hairy, veined follicles prolonged above on the outer 

 side into a curved beak (the style) dehiscing by their ventral 

 (inner) suture. Seeds about 12 in each follicle, densely packed and 

 more or less flattened, about J in. in their longest diameter, irre- 

 gularly quadrilateral with sharp angles, testa thick, deeply netted 

 and pitted, dark brown, embryo minute, embedded at the edge of 

 the copious oily endosperm. 



Habitat. This species is found in the countries of the Medi- 

 terranean region, from Portugal and Spain to Greece and Crete, 

 and also extends into Asia Minor and the Canary Islands, 

 growing in dry bushy places and flowering in early summer. It 

 is grown in most of our botanic gardens, and is cultivated for use 

 in the South of France and Italy. Like some other species of the 

 genus the flowers vary in colour, being sometimes pink, or pale 

 blue j the whole plant has a somewhat unpleasant odour when 

 handled. The seeds vary considerably in size. 



Woodville's plate above quoted is referred by De Candolle to 

 D. pictum, Willd., a plant chiefly known in gardens, but also 

 found in Sardinia. Its differences being of a comparative nature 

 seem scarcely sufficient to warrant its specific separation. 



Bertolini, FL Ital., v, p. 413; Boiss., Fl. Orient., i, p. 94; Gren. 

 and Godr., FL France, i, p. 49; DC., Syst. Veg., i, p. 363; 

 Lindl., FL Med., p. 9. 



Part Used and Name. STAPHISAGRIA SEMINA ; the seeds. 

 Stavesacre seeds are not official in the British Pharmacopoeia, the 

 Pharmacopeia of India, or the Pharmacopoeia of the United 



