Aquilegia. | I. RANUNCULACEE. 13 
less divided than the lower ones, Flowers large, drooping, blue, or of a 
dull purple. 
In coppices and open woods in Europe and temperate Asia, extending 
northwards into Scandinavia, and eastwards to North Himalaya. In 
Britain, often introduced, but now not uncommon, and believed to be really 
indigenous in several counties of England, [reland, and southern Scot- 
land. FV. early summer. In gardens it sports much in the form and 
colour of the flowers. 
The A. canadensis, and some other exotic species, are occasionally culti- 
vated in our flower-gardens. 
XI. DELPHINIUM. LARKSPUR. 
Annual or perennial herbs, with much divided leaves, the segments 
usually palmate and narrow. Sepals 5, coloured, terminating below in a 
hollow spur. Petals, in the British species 2,-combined into 1, which is 
lengthened into a spur within that of the calyx; in some exotic species the 
petals are 4, the two upper ones forming a spur. Carpels 1 to 5, each with 
several seeds. : 
A considerable genus, widely spread over the northern hemisphere with- 
out the tropics. It is as well marked as Aquitlegia and Aconitum, by the 
peculiar irregularities of the calyx and corolla. 
1. D. Ajacis, Linn. (fig. 29).. Common L.—An erect annual, 1 to 13 feet 
high, glabrous or slightly hairy, the branches few and spreading. Radical leaves 
shortly stalked, the stem ones sessile, all divided into fine, linear, deeply-cut 
segments. Flowers showy blue, or sometimes reddish or white, not nu- 
merous, in terminal racemes, forming sometimes an irregular panicle. 
Spur of the calyx as long as the rest of the flower or rather shorter (each 
about 6 lines). Petals two only, their appendages united on the under side 
into an inner spur open along its upper edge. Carpel solitary, glabrous or 
pubescent. 
A native of the east Mediterranean region, long cultivated in Europe; is 
naturalized, and, spreading from thence into cornfields, has become a com- 
mon weed of cultivation. In Britain, in Cambridgeshire, but appears oc- 
casionally in cornfields in other parts of England. In the first edition of 
this work, as in the earlier British Floras, the continental D. Consolida had 
been described for this. AV. with the corn, or later, on the stubble. Some 
marks at the base of the united petals, which have been compared to the 
letters A 1 A I, have given rise to the name of D. Ajacis. Some larger 
perennial species are also cultivated in flower-gardens, 
XII. ACONITUOM. ACONITE. 
Perennial herbs, with much divided leaves, the segments palmate. Se- 
pals 5, coloured, the upper one helmet-shaped, the two lateral ones broader 
than the two lower. Petals 2 to 5, concealed within the calyx, the two 
upper ones forming small and irregular spurred bodies, on long stalks 
within the upper sepal, the three lower very small and linear, or wanting. 
Stamens numerous. Carpels 3 to 5, each with several seeds. 
A natural genus, consisting chiefly of mountain plants, spread over the 
greater part of Europe and central Asia, represented also in northern 
America by a very few species. 
