LARKSPURS 
as they have four leaves. They should be placed nine or ten inches 
apart. 
Description of The three purplish flowers (A) are those of A. vulgaris. 
Plate 9. Two examples of the long-spurred A. chrysantha are given 
at BB, whilst C depicts A. formosa. The open follicles’with their ripe 
seeds are sown to the right of C, and the seeds, natural size and enlarged, 
are depicted at the foot of the Plate (1). 
LARKSPURS 
Natural Order Ranunculace.®. Genus Delphinium 
Delphinium (Greek, delphin, a dolphin). A genus of about forty 
species of erect annual or perennial herbs, natives of the north temperate 
zone. The leaves are alternate, lobed or cut into fine divisions. The 
flowers are borne in racemes, or panicles, each flower starting from the 
axil of a slender bract. The five coloured sepals cohere below, the upper 
one produced as a long spur behind. The petals two or four, the two 
upper with spurs which lie within the spur of the sepal; the lateral 
ones, when present, small and spurless. Stamens numerous; follicles, one 
Delphinium Ajads, the common garden Larkspur, 
appears to have been introduced from the Continent in 
1573, and in several places garden escapes have become naturalised; 
especially is this so in the cornfields of Cambridgeshire. At the end of 
the sixteenth century two other species were introduced, D. datum 
(now recognised as a synonym for D. exaltatum) from Siberia, and 
D. staphisagria (Stavesacre) from South Europe. During the last 
and present centuries a number of beautiful species have come from 
Siberia, America, and our Indian Empire, and many fine hybrids and 
seedlings have been produced from them. Messrs. Kelway & Sons of 
Langport are the principal breeders and growers of the best of garden 
Delphiniums. 
Delphinium Ajacis (Ajax’s) is an erect, hairy plant, 
Principal Species. a ^ >ou ^ jg } nc h es high, with finely-divided leaves, and long 
racemes of white, pink, or blue flowers, which appear in June and July. 
Follicles hairy. Most of the Rocket Larkspurs are descended from this 
species. 
D. Consolida (joined in one). 12 to 18 inches; more branched, 
racemes shorter, petals joined, follicles smooth; June. 
