DELPHI NIUM MESOLEUCUM. 
WHITE-CENTRED LARKSPUR. 
Class. Order. 
POLYANDRIA. TRIGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
R A NUNC PLACE.®. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Cultivated 
N. Europe. 
4 feet. 
July. 
Perennial. 
in 1822. 
No. 403. 
The Greek word, delphinion, was used by 
Dioscorides ; who, probably, applied it to a species 
of aconite. The ancients were fertile in fancy, and 
as their descriptive acumen did not rest on such mi- 
nute distinctions as prevail at the present day, their 
minds were left more freely to the indulgence of 
whimsical notions. The flower bud of the Delphi- 
nium they imagined like a dolphin, and named it 
accordingly. Mesoleucum, from the Greek me- 
sos, middle; and leukos, white. The curved 
nectary of the flower will readily show the applica- 
tion of our English name, Larkspur. 
There are very few plants more deserving of cul- 
tivation than the various species of Larkspur. Who 
has not admired the numberless delicate tints of the 
crowd of blossoms borne by the Delphinium Ajacis, 
or Rocket Larkspur ? which has sometimes flowers 
of distinctly different colours on the same stem. 
Or who that has seen the varieties of Delphinium 
elatum, or Bee Larkspur, elevating themselves to 
the height of 7 or 8 feet, with spikes of flowers half 
their length, has not stood in admiration ? Our 
present species is somewhat inferior in height, but 
