RANUNCDLACE^ 



61 



in a 



Delphinium 



Annual or perennial herbs with much-divided leaves 



The 5 sepals are coloured, the back one ending 



hollow spur. There are 2-4 small 



petals, in the British species two, 



which are joined together, and each 



lengthened into a spur, lying in 



that of the calyx. The 1-5 carpels 



form each a several-seeded dry fruit. 



The embryo is very small. 



D. Ajacis (Common Larkspur). — 



An annual erect herb, 1 1|- feet 



high ; glabrous or slightly hairy ; 



with branches few and spreading, 



and leaves divided into fine linear 



segments. The flowers are blue, 



reddish, or white, in terminal 



racemes. The spurs of the two 



petals are united on the under side 



into an inner spur, open along its 



upper surface. The honey is at the base of the spur, 



and only accessible to the bees which have the longest 



proboscis, as, for instance, Bomhus hortorum. The 

 solitary follicle is either glabrous or 

 pubescent. The flowers are pro- 

 tandrous. The seeds are black and 

 angular, with transverse, acute, 

 wavy, and continuous ridges. 



The plant is a cornfield weed, 

 not a native, and rare except in 

 Cambridgeshire. The name is de- 

 rived from some marks at the base 

 of the petals which have a fancied 



resemblance to A I A T. 



D. elatum (Fig. 36), a Southern European species, has 



been well described by H. Miiller. The five sepals (se) 



are brightly coloured ; the upper one is produced into a 



long spur (x). The two upper petals are also produced 



Fio. 34. — Long, section of 

 seed of Delphinium 

 Staphysagria. x 12. £, 

 embryo ; I', endosperm. 



Fig. 35. — Trans, section of 

 seed of Delphinium 

 Staphysagria. x 12. £, 

 embryo. 



