8 
BULLETIN 365, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
think that the eastern species are not poisonous, but conditions of 
grazing are so different in the East that cattle do not come in con- 
tact with the plant to any extent. Kecently specific accounts have 
come to this office of the poisoning of cows by Delphinium tricorne 
in West Virginia. 
For convenience of reference, there is given below a list of the species 
of Delphinium that are said to be poisonous to stock in the United 
States. This list is compiled from the literature of the subject, from 
office correspondence, and from personal interviews with stockmen, 
and no attempt has been made to edit it critically from the standpoint 
of the systematise So far as specimens have come to the office of 
Poisonous Plant Investigations they have been determined by bot- 
anists of the Bureau of Plant Industry, but published statements have 
been taken at their face value. 
Delphinium andersonii Gray. 
Delphinium barbeyi Huth. 
Delphinium bicolor Nutt. 
Delphinium californicum T. & G. 
Delphinium carolinianum Walt. 
Delphinium consolida L. 
Delphinium cucullatum A. Nels. 
Delphinium elongatum Rydb. 
Delphinium exaltatum Ait. 
Delphinium geyeri Greene. 
Delphinium gluucum Wats. 
Delphinium hesperium Gray. 
Delphinium macrophyllum Wooton. 
Delphinium menziesii D. C, D. nelsonii 
Greene. 
Delphinium multiflorum Rydb. 
Delphinium occidentale Wats. 
Delphinium recurvatum Greene. 
Delphinium robustum Rydb. 
Delphinium sapellonis Ckll. 
Delphinium scaposum Greene. 
Delphinium scopulorum Gray. 
Delphinium simplex Doug. 
Delphinium treleasei Bush. 
Delphinium tricorne Michx. 
Delphinium trolliifolium Gray. 
Delphinium virescens Nutt., D. penar- 
dii Huth. 
THE ALKALOIDS OF DELPHINIUMS. 
Most of the laboratory work on the poisonous properties of the 
Delphiniums has been done in Europe on the seeds of Delphinium 
staphisagria* inasmuch as the seeds of this plant have been used 
since ancient times as a parasiticide and to some extent for medicinal 
purposes. 
The analysis of the seeds of Delphinium staphisagria shows that 
they contain four alkaloids, namely, delphinin or delphin, del- 
phinoidin, delphisin, and staphisagrin. The chemical composition 
of these alkaloids has been given somewhat differently by investi- 
gators. Marquis, 18ZT, who claimed to have first obtained the pure 
alkaloids, gives the formulas as follows: 
Delphinin, C-HasNOe. 
Delphinoidin, C^HesNaOr. 
Delphisin, C27H46N2O4. 
Staphisagrin, C22H33NO5. 
The most characteristic and important alkaloids are delphinin 
and staphisagrin, and of the two, delphinin has been investigated the 
more thoroughly and is the more powerful alkaloid. The results 
