4- DELPHINIUM STAPHISAGBIA 



Delphinium Consolida, Linn. 



Larkspur. 



Official Part and Name. DELPHINIUM, Larkspur ; the seed of 

 Delphinium Consolida (U. S. P. Secondary). In the last U. S. P. the 

 root was official, but it is not mentioned in the present issue. No 

 part of the plant is official in the British Pharmacopoeia, or the 

 Pharmacopoeia of India. This plant, which was introduced from 

 Europe, has now become naturalised in some parts of the United 

 States. Its specific name is derived from the power its flowers 

 were formerly supposed to possess of healing or consolidating 

 wounds. 



General Character 's, Composition, Medical Properties, and Uses. 

 The seeds have a very acrid and somewhat bitter taste, and 

 have been found by Mr. Hopkins, of Baltimore, to contain del- 

 phinia as their essential constituent ; and also amongst other sub- 

 stances a volatile oil, fixed oil, and resin. Aconitic acid has like- 

 wise been obtained from the expressed juice of the plant. 



The seeds possess diuretic properties, and in large doses cause 

 vomiting and purging. In the form of a tincture, made by 

 macerating an ounce of the seeds in sixteen fluid ounces of proof 

 spirit, and given in .doses of ten drops, gradually increased, it has 

 been found useful in spasmodic asthma and dropsy. The pro- 

 perties and uses of this plant are probably closely analogous to those 

 of Delphinium Staphisagria. 



U. S. Disp., by W. & B., p. 359 ; Wicke, Jcmrn. de Pharm., Juillet, 

 1854, p. 79, and in Pharm. Journ., vol. xiv, 1st ser., p. 278; 

 Hopkins, in Amer. Journ. of Pharm., vol. xi, p. 8. 



