I 12 
DELPHINIUM 
Fl. Brit. 577 (1800)!; Eng. Bot. no. 1839 (1808); Eng. FI. iii, 30 (1825); Sibthorp et Smith FI. Graec. Prodr. 
i, 370 (1806 — 1809); ? D. ornattim Bouch6 in Bot. Zeit. i, 26 (1843). 
leones: — Smith Eng. Bot. t. 1839, as D. consolida-, Fl. Dan. t. 683, as D. consolida-, Reichenbach Icon, iv, 
t. 67, fig. 4670 ; Baxter Phaen. Bot. iv, t. 297, as D. consolida ; Sibthorp et Smith Fl. Graec. t. 504, as D. consolida. 
Canib. Brit. Fl. iii. Plate 109. (a) Lower part of shoot, (b) Upper part of shoot. ( c ) Portion of stem 
(enlarged), (d) End of leaf-lobe (enlarged), (e) The five sepals of a single flower. (/) Corolla (side view). 
(g) Corolla (front view). ( h ) Portion of infructescence. (i) Seeds. (/) Seed (enlarged). Cambridgeshire (C. E. M.). 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 707. 
Annual. Root small. Stem erect, pubescent, more or less branched as a rule, up to nearly 1 m. 
high. Branches usually ascending. Lower leaves petioled ; lamina palmately tripinnate, ciliate ; seg- 
ments flat, linear; terminal lobes flat, rather acute. Lower bracts leaf-like, sessile. Upper bracts simple, 
subulate. Bracteoles usually 2 and opposite, hairy, about 5 mm. long. Inflorescence solitary. Flowers 
about 2—16 on a branch, simulating a raceme, up to about 2 '8 cm. in diameter; July and August. 
Sepals petaloid, greenish outside when in bud, becoming blue as they mature, rarely pinkish or white. 
Nectar-leaves or petals pale blue, rarely pinkish or white, upper lobe erect and bifid, lateral lobes ulti- 
mately converging. Stamens about 15 ; filaments broad and whitish below, bluish and filamentous 
above, bending forwards. Style and stigmas shorter than in D. consolida , bent backwards. Follicle 
pubescent, oblong, transversely ridged, up to about 3 cm. long and o'5 broad. Seeds nearly black, with 
transverse and undulating ridges, about 3 mm. long ; late August and September. 
This plant is, beyond all doubt, the D. consolida of Smith and the older English authorities. Reichenbach (1840) and 
J. Gay (ex Grenier et Godron loc. cit.) applied the name D. consolida to the following species, and gave the name D. ajacis 
to Smith’s D. consolida. With some misgiving, we follow Reichenbach in his allocation of the two names. 
Formerly abundant in cornfields in parts of Cambridgeshire ; now a sporadic cornfield weed in southern and 
eastern England, and in the Channel Islands ; it is still a common plant in cottage gardens in Cambridgeshire, 
and springs up more or less abundantly as a weed in disused gardens, in allotments, in old brick-pits, and in 
waste places ; quite adventitious in Wales, in northern England, and in Scotland, and not recorded for Ireland. 
Indigenous in the Mediterranean region ; naturalised in western and central Europe northwards to Holland 
and Germany, and in North America. 
[^DELPHINIUM CONSOLIDA] 
Delphinium consolida L. Sp. PI. 530 (1753) partim ? ; Reichenbach Icon, iv, 20 (1840); Grenier et 
Godron Fl. France i, 45 (1847) 5 Syme Eng. Bot. i, 63 (1863); M’Nab op. cit.\ Rouy et Foucaud Fl. France i, 129 
(1893)- 
leones: — Reichenbach Icon, iv, t. 66, fig. 4669; Syme Eng. Bot. i, t. 47, top right-hand figure. 
Exsiccata : — Billot, 1407 ; Billot (Fl. Gall, et Germ.), 102 ; Herb. Fl. Ingric ., i, 26. 
Closely allied to the preceding species from which it differs in the following characters : — Shoot 
less tall. Branches more divaricate. Flowers smaller. Style and stigma longer. Follicle glabrous, 
elliptical-acute. Seeds smaller. 
Sporadic and rare, in cornfields in Jersey and in southern England ; adventitious, as a rule, in England. 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, central Europe, Russia, southern Europe, Asia ; 
naturalised in North America. 
Genus 7. *Aconitum 
Aconitum [Tournefort Inst. 424, t. 239 et t. 240 (1700);] L. Sp. PI. 532 (1753) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 236 
(1754); Prantl op. cit. 56 et 60 (1891). 
Perennial, poisonous herbs. Roots tuberous-fusiform, lateral branches rather stout. Stem 
erect. Leaves palmatisect or palmatipartite. Bracts small. Bracteoles 2, opposite. Inflorescence 
solitary. Flowers grouped to simulate a raceme. Sepals petaloid, 5, upper ones covering the rest 
of the flower like a hood or helmet. Nectar-leaves or petals hidden within the hood-like sepal, 
2 — 5 ; the 3 lower ones small or absent ; the 2 upper ones more or less erect, stalked, dilated 
at the tips to form the nectaries. Stamens 00. Follicles 7 — 1, usually 5 — 3, sessile, free. 
About 60 species ; northern hemisphere 
