STOCK-POISONING PLANTS OF THE RANGE. 
Delphinium bar-beyi is perhaps the most widely distributed species 
of the tall larkspurs and is the plant which causes the greater part 
of the tall-larkspur losses in Colorado, Utah, and some other locali- 
ties. Figure 7 shows the leaves and blossoms of this species, and 
Figure 8 a group of the plants in blossom. 
In most cases the tall larkspurs blossom during the summer months 
and do not die down until they are broken by the snows of the early 
fall. The exact time of blossoming differs with the species and with 
the places in which they occur. In the mountains of Colorado the 
blossoming period is ordinarily in July, and the seeds are formed in 
August, after which the plant commences to dry up. The leaves of 
the tall larkspurs lose their poisonous properties after blossoming, 
so that in most localities the cases of poisoning from these plants 
occur in the spring or 
early summer. In the 
case of some species, 
however, especially in 
localities where the 
snowfall is heavy and 
remains late in the sea- 
son, and in certain 
parts of the Sierras the 
period of blossoming 
continues late into the 
summer, so that poison- 
ing cases may occur at 
any time during the 
season. 
The seeds of the tall 
larkspurs are very poi- 
sonous, but they are not 
eaten to any extent by 
cattle. 
Aconite ( Aconitum 
coluhbianum ) . 
Plate VI is a picture 
of the ordinary aconite 
and is inserted in order 
that it may be compared with the pictures of the larkspur, and 
the similarity noted. Aconite, as is well known, is a poisonous 
plant, but somewhat extensive experimental work by the Department 
of Agriculture has demonstrated that it does not poison livestock on 
the range. It is important, therefore, that this plant should be dis- 
tinguished from larkspur, because in some localities it occurs in great 
abundance, while larkspur is comparatively rare. This is true of 
certain parts of the Yellowstone Park, where in some localities the 
swampy regions are blue with aconite in the summer months, while 
the larkspur is only rarely met with. In other parts, however, like 
the region between the Yellowstone Lake and the Grand Canyon, the 
larkspur is very abundant and the aconite comparatively rare. 
Flowers of the aconite have the peculiar form from which the plant 
has been known as " monkshood," and in most regions they are 
Generally speaking, in the 
Fig. 
Tall larkspur {Delphinium 
and flowers. 
barbeyi), leaves 
much darker in color than the larkspurs. 
