42 
The BRITISH HERBAL. 
The iiowers ftaiul at the tops of thefe, and are 
large, and of a beauLifu! blue. 
The feed-vcffels follow, five to each flower, 
and contain large black feeds. 
It is wild in the woods of Yorkthire, and other 
nortliern counties, and flowers in May. 
C. Bauhine calls it Jquilegia fyhejiris. J. Bau- 
hine, AnuHegia florefimflici. 
The feeds of cohmbine are famous againll the 
jmindice. tvlatthiolus prefcribes them with faf- 
'fron ; and there is no better way of giving them : 
tiiey open obftruaions of the vifcera, and operate 
by fweat and urine. 
It is alfo excellent alone in fevers, and in the 
fniall-poxand meafles, to throw out thepuflules. 
A dccoftion of the roots and feeds makes a 
very good gargarifm againll fore throats. 
For all thefe purpofes the wili columbine is 
preferable to any of the garden kinds : and this 
is the cafe tliroughout all nature, the cultivated 
fpecies having the mod beauty, but the plain na- 
tural plant tlic mod virtue. 
This plant has been taken out of the woods 
into our gardens, and culture has given it a great 
variety of forms and appearances, which fome 
have confidered as diftinft fpecies. The mnmon 
garden columbine, with large fingle flowers, the 
double-inverted coknibine, and the rofe columbine, 
as alfo the degenerate great columbine, have been 
called fo many diflinft plants ; but they are no- 
thing more than varieties raifed from this ftock 
by various culture. 
There are other fpecies, though lefs common ; 
and thefe deferve to be diftinguiflred. 
DIVISION II. 
I. Great-flowered Columbine. 
Aquilegia magno pre foliis majul divi/is. 
■ The root is long, thick, and furniflied with 
many fibres. 
The leaves ftand on long footflalks, and are 
divided into many fegments : but thefe are not 
broad, as in the common kind ; but narrow, of 
a pale green, and Hiarp-pointed. 
The ftalks are two feet high, upright, redifli, 
branched, and firm. 
Their leaves are few, and fland at difl:ances. 
The flowers are in all refpefts like thofe of the 
common columbine, but that they are much larger : 
their colour is a beautiful blue. 
The feeds are contained in capfules, five fol- 
lowing each flower. 
It is common in the fouth of France, and 
flowers in June. 
C. Bauhine calls it Aquilegici montana magm 
fore. 
FOREIGN SPECIES. 
2. Red Virginian Columbine. 
Jquilegia precox rubra. 
The root is long, thick, divided into fevcral 
parts, and edged with fibres. 
The leaves are numerous, and ftand upon long 
faotftalks : they are divided into fmall fegments, 
notched at the edges, and of a very pale green. 
The ftalks rife in the centre of this tuft ; and 
are llender, weak, and but fix or feven inches high. 
They have a few fmall leaves on them, divided 
like thofe from the root, but into narrower feg- 
ments. 
The flowers are large, and of a bright red on 
the outfide, and yellowilh at the mouth within: 
the horns or neSaria are not crooked, as in the 
common kind, but rigid and ftrait. 
The feeds are contained in flender capfules. 
It is a native of North America: We have it 
in fome curious gardens; where it varies from the 
natural fize, but preferves the charafler. 
Cornutus calls it Jquilegia fumila precox Calta. 
denfis. Others, Jquilegia Virginiam rubra. 
E N U 
X. 
LARKSPUR. 
DELPHINIUM. 
rr-HF flower conlilts of five petals, one of which runs out behind into a long fpur : the feeds are 
T contained in capfules; three of thefe naturally fucceed each flower; but in fome fpectes they 
iiiiirc and tocether form but one. . . , n l • 
Li'nn^us pfaces this genus among his potyandria trigynia ; the filaments meach flower berng nume- 
rous ; and the rudimenrs of the fruft three naturally, and moft frequently; though fomefmes only 
one when the capfule is to be fingle. , j' -c 
This plant (hews how difficult it muft be to form the charaaers of a genus, or larger d.v.fion, up- 
on any one part ; there being fpecies of larkfpur in which the feed-veffel is fingle. 
DIVISION I. BRITISH SPECIES. 
Common Larkfpur. 
Delphinium vulgare condemn. 
The root is long, llender, whitilh, fimple, and 
has but few fibres. 
The firft leaves are fmall : they ftand upon 
ftiort footftalks, and are divided into a few feg- 
ments. They are of a pale green colour, and 
foon fade and wither. 
The ftalk is round, firm, and of a pale green, 
dirided 
