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DELPHINIUM WHEELERI. 
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DELPHINIUM SPECIOSUM(r) tab: WHEELEEI. 
Kat. Order. — Rajtuncuxace.e. 
few North American ; annual or perennial by a somewhat fas- 
cicled root ; stems erect, branched, the leaves scattered, twice 
or tbriee ternately divided, lobes linear, or palmately five-cut 
or five-parted ; flowers in loose racemes or panicles, blue, purple, 
rose, or white, very rarely yellow. — (Endlichcr Gen. Plant,, 
4796.) 
DELPHiNruM speciosxjm, Bieberstein — Petioles not dilated 
at the base ; leaves pubescent, five-lobed ; lobes deeply ser- 
rated , bracts lanceolate villous, clammy ; spur curved ; cap- 
sules smooth. 
Yar. Wkeeleri. — Wheeler's Bee-Larkspur. — Flowers densely 
crowded in large erect spike-like racemes. 
Generic Character. — Delphinium, Toumefort. — Calyx co- 
loured, of five sepals, sepals imbricated in aestivation, unequal, 
the outermost produced into a hollow spur at the base, all de- 
ciduous. Corolla of four petals, hypogynous, free or coalescent 
into one piece, open above, the fifth upper petal wanting, the 
two lower produced at the base into appendices (internal spurs) 
contained in the spur of the calyx. Stamens numerous, hypo- 
gynous. Ovaries mostly three, rarely one or five, free, one- 
celled ; ovules numerous, in two rows on the ventral suture. 
Capsules follicular, membranous, tipped with the styles, burst- 
ing longitudinally, at the inner side. Seeds angular, the testa 
spongy, membranous. — Herbs common in the temperate parts 
of the northern hemisphere, many Mediterranean and Eastern, 
BESCEIPTIOiS 7 . — An herbaceous perennial plant with erect branching stems, the principal 
one terminating in a densely spiked raceme, the lateral branches bearing looser racemes. 
Leaves scattered, deeply palmately divided into five segments, the lower segment on each side 
somewhat two-parted, so that the leaf appears almost seven-lobed ; the lobes of all are some- 
what wedge-shaped below and deeply inciso-serrate from the middle ; the margins are ciliated, 
the lower face slightly hairy, especially on the veins. Eacemes densely crowded with flowers 
borne on peduncles successively shorter upwards, and axillary to linear pubescent bracts. Calyx 
bright blue, spur a little curved at the apex, about as long as the limb of the calyx. Petals 
dark brown, the lower bifid, bearded with yellow hairs on the disk and white ones on the 
margin. — A. H. 
Histoet, &c. — This magnificent variety of Bee Larkspur was raised by Mr. G. "Wheeler, 
nurseryman of Warminster, who obligingly forwarded to us last July the specimen, accompanied 
by several others, from which our drawing was made. All had the same kind of dense some- 
what pyramidal inflorescence. In one of the specimens, somewhat larger than that which our 
artist has copied, the principal spike of bloom measured fourteen inches long, by eight and a half 
diameter at its broadest part, and we counted on this two hundred and forty-four blossoms and 
buds, the greater number of which were in perfection at the time we received them ; below this 
several smaller and more loosely arranged flowering branches were produced. Mr. Wheeler 
informs us that the parent plant was discovered four or five years since in a batch of seedlings, 
which, he thinks, had been sown as D. speoiosum, the seed having been of his own saving. The 
stems grow about three feet and a half in height, and are of so sturdy a habit, that they scarcely 
ever need any kind of support. Mr. Wheeler also states that it is very hardy and carries a good 
foliage. As there seems no reason to doubt its constancy, it must prove to be one of the most 
beautiful hardy garden flowers which has been for some time brought into notice. 
Cdxttjee. — The culture of this tribe of plants is simple enough. The ordinary sorts, indeed, 
grow without difficulty in any good garden earth, which is neither saturated in winter nor 
parched in summer, neither of which extremes suit them. Eor varieties of improved breed, 
such as our present subject, more careful culture is, however, well bestowed. The soil 
prepared for it should be a light rich loam, such as a good mellow loam enriched with about a 
fourth part of well decomposed manure ; or, where the soil is naturally of tolerably good 
quality, the simple addition of the manure will be all that is necessary. If fine blooms are 
desired, the plants must not be allowed to become dry, as they air apt to do in very hot weather. 
In order, too, that they may produce their bloom-spikes in perfection, the plants must be well 
established. Seminal varieties, such as the present, can seldom be propagated by any other 
means than the process of separation ; but they admit of tolerably extensive increase by means of 
very careful division, which is, moreover, best done in spring, at the time when the plants are 
starting into their annual growth ; the divisions should produce good strong flowering plants the 
following year. — M . 
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I u )j VOL. III. 
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