May 1908 
Grandiflorum 
flowers the first year from seed than any other 
perennial larkspur. To get a fair show 
of flowers by August it is best to sow the 
other species indoors in March, but the 
Chinese larkspur will be covered with flowers 
Larkspurs used for natural gardening. Plant in 
clumps against trees 
on Independence Day from seed sown out- 
doors in April. It probably has more of 
the ever-blooming habit than the other 
species, for the variety known as Blue Butter- 
fly begins to bloom when the plant is only 
Cheilanthum 
Cheilanthum 
FLOWERS OF 
Elatum a 
LEAVES OF THE IMPORTANT LARKSPURS 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
\ : 
Elatum 
nine inches high and under favorable con- 
ditions will continue until frost. 
lil. THE MYSTERIOUS FORMOSUM 
I could scarcely believe my eyes when 
I read a statement by the latest monogra- 
pher of the whole genus (Huth) to the effect 
that the true D. formosum is practically 
unknown to gardens. The man who first 
described it (Boissier, 1856) says that it is 
unique in having golden hairs on the upper 
petals, as well as the lower ones. All the 
famous old colored plates that call them- 
selves D. formosum are referred by Huth 
to D. cheilanthum. 
Moreover Huth describes a D. formosum, 
var. centiflorum which he says is “‘the most 
beautiful of all delphiniums, but gardeners 
are little acquainted with it because it was 
introduced into cultivation comparatively 
late.” It will be difficult for any gardener 
to believe that the best species of the genus 
—one with a hundred flowers in a spike 
and each flower two and one-half inches 
across — could remain comparatively un- 
known to cultivation after once being intro- 
duced. It is native to Armenia. 
IV. THE BIG-LIPPED LARKSPUR — 
CHEILANTHUM 
The name D. cheilanthum rarely, if ever, 
appears in catalogues to-day, yet if Huth 
is right it is to this species that we must 
attribute practically all the plants sold as 
D. formosum. The original description 
of D. cheilanthum, made in 1820, is founded 
on two pictures, from one of which I have 
reproduced a single flower, showing the 
prominent beard on the lower petals. This 
flower was a small one—about three- 
quarters of an inch across. Later pictures 
Exaltatum 
215 
Exaltatum Hybridum 
THE MOST IMPORTANT LARKSPURS 
that call themselves cheilanthum show 
flowers an inch and a half in diameter 
and in 1838 we get in Sweet’s “British 
Flower Garden” a variety with a dozen 
flowers on a spike nine inches long. The 
leaf which I reproduce here is not from the 
picture of 1769, as that shows one of the 
upper leaves and we must always be on our 
guard against these in Delphinium, since 
they are not characteristic. The leaf I 
show is from Sweet’s picture, which he 
calls D. cheilunthum, var. multiplex and 
my readers will instantly recall this as the 
most familiar type of foliage among peren- 
nial larkspurs. The leaf is usually five- 
parted. 
Huth says the tradesman used to offer 
a D. cheilanthum, var. formosum. It is 
quite possible that this got shortened in 
the trade to D. formosum and I can testify 
that the specimens which the New York 
Botanical Garden got from American seeds- 
men under this name are really cheilanthum, 
for the golden beard on the big lower lip 
of this flower is unmistakable. This 
NY Y 
oy 
SRO 
SSX 
Grandifiorum Hybridum. 
