396 THE VEGETABLE WORLD. 
and verticilate, changing into follicles at a later period, and 
occupying the centre of the flower. 
’ The Delphinium consolida, commonly known under the name of 
Wild Larkspur, is frequently found at harvest-time in cultivated . 
fields round Paris, and other places, but in this country it has only 
been found wild in the Channel Islands. Its stem is slight and 
straight, with numerous branches, its leaves are slender and thong- 
like, its short bunches of blue flowers form a panicle. The seeds 
of this species partake of the acrid and poisonous properties of the 
: : genus. The expressed juice of 
ae the petals, mixed with alum, 
hy a? make a blue fluid ink. The form 
of the flower, with the spurred 
calyx, is represented in Fig. 399. 
Many beautiful species of the 
Larkspur are cultivated in gar- 
dens, such as the Delphinium 
elatum, Delphinium  grandi- 
Jlorum, &c., species originally 
from Siberia: one of the most 
elegant is the Delphinium Ajacis, 
originally from the Eastand from 
Algeria; it is often met with in 
gardens, and has also been found 
in our cornfields, where its seeds 
have been disseminated, no 
doubt by some of the aids to 
nature to which we have alluded 
elsewhere. 
The Aconites (Aconitum) have 
five unequal petaloid sepals, the 
superior of which is‘formed like 
a helmet, or galla, lapping over 
the corolla. This latter organ is composed of from two to eight 
petals, of which the two upper form an elongated aiglet terminating 
in a reversed hood; whilst the lower, which are very small and 
filiform, are often absent altogether. The numerous stamens are 
disposed in series, as in the Larkspurs, and in the centre of the — 
ZZ 
oot 
Fig. 399.—Larkspur (Delphinium). 
