y o S [ 1839 ]
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DELPHINIUM Consolida,
Field Larkspur.
POLYANDRIA Trigynia.
Gen. Char. Cal. none. Petals 5 ; the upper one
spurred. Nectary cloven, with a posterior spur.
Spec. Char. Capsule solitary. Nectary of one leaf.
Stem subdivided.
S y n . Delphinium Consolida. Linn. Sp. PI. 748. Sm,
FI. Brit. 577. Buds. 235. With. 494. Hull.
118. Relh, 209. Abbot, 118.
D. segetum, flore casruleo. Dill, in Raii Syn. 273.
R a y , it seems, did not consider this plant, which is the
Branching Larkspur” of the gardens, as a native of Britain;
but since the time of Dillenius it has-been, without scruple,
received as such. Indeed nothing can be more common, nor
more undoubtedly wild, than it is in all the open chalky or sandy
fields of Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, &c., flowering in July.
Root annual. Herbage finely downy. Stem upright, 2 or
3 feet high, much branched and spreading; the branches alternate,
slender, straight, round and leafy. Leaves alternate,
sessile, pale greyish green, divided into numerous, alternate,
linear, very narrow segments. Flowers in long terminal
clusters. Nectary of one leaf, slightly doyen, pale purple,
as are also the backs of the petals, though their upper side is
of a brilliant blue, varying occasionally to pale blue, pink, or
white. Spur ascending, downy, about as long as the petals,
Germen, and consequently the capsule, solitary.