Plate 50. 
THREE-COLOURED BRANCHING LARKSPUR. 
Delphinium fConsolidaJ tricolor elegans . 
“A tall form of Branching Larkspur, producing single or 
double flowers of richly-varied colours, many of them elegantly 
striped. These latter, which were very handsome, were of va¬ 
rious shades of rosy pink striped with blue. Others were of a 
rich purple.” Such is the brief description given in the report 
on Annuals published in the 6 Proceedings of the Royal Horti¬ 
cultural Society,’ of the group of Larkspurs from which the 
subjects of our illustration were selected. They were contri¬ 
buted by Messrs. Carter and Co., of Holborn, to the experi¬ 
mental collection of annuals grown last year in the Society’s 
garden at Chiswick, and were grown under the garden name 
of Delphinium Consolida tricolor elegans , the specimens figured 
being selected from the most decidedly marked plants. 
Being of tall growth and branching habit, like the common 
forms of Branching Larkspur, this striped variety will be a very 
useful addition to border flowers,—better, indeed, adapted for 
the border of mixed flowers than for any more formal posi¬ 
tion. It is free-flowering, and besides this long-enduring on ac¬ 
count of its ramose habit. In some plants the sepals are of a 
very pale rose-pink, dashed here and there with a deeper red, 
and conspicuously flaked with blue or purple. In others the 
ground-colour is of a deeper rosy hue, and marked in a simi¬ 
lar way, whilst in the small central petals white appears more 
or less evident. In some the flowers are single, and in others 
double, both forms being equally handsome. 
The variety appears to be sportive, a portion of the plants 
producing whole-coloured flowers; but there is no doubt that 
Plate 50. — Delphixitjm Coxsolida, var. tbicoloe elegaxs : habit and 
foliage that of the species; flowers rose-coloured, of various shades, striped 
with blue and purple, the petals whitish; flowers sometimes double, 
