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Delphinium (Greek name used by Dioscorides)

(Greek name used by Dioscorides). Larkspur. ORD. Ranunculaceae. Very ornamental hardy annuals, biennials, or perennials, with erect branching habit. Flowers blue, purple, pink, or white, rarely yellow, racemed or panicled, bracteate; sepals five, petal-like, irregular, the upper one drawn out below into a spur; petals two to four, two upper ones drawn out at the base into appendages within the sepaline spur. Fruit a many-seeded follicle. Leaves stalked; cauline ones palmately-multifid. Although the plants belonging to this genus are of very easy cultivation, thriving in almost any position with fair treatment, yet like most other cultivated subjects, their real beauty and merit can only be estimated by bestowing special attention upon them. The soil should be dug to a good depth (if trenched, so much the better), and a liberal supply of well-rotted manure in-corporated. The distance between the plants should be 3ft. each way, if arranged by themselves in beds; or, if placed at the back of a mixed border--a position generally assigned to the tall perennial species or varieties, and one for which they are well adapted--8ft., or even more, may be allowed. The dwarf annuals, when cultivated in pots, are very ornamental for greenhouse decoration. Propagation. All the herbaceous sorts may be increased by root division, by cuttings, or by seeds. The first-named method is the best for perpetuating named varieties. The old plants should be cut down after flowering, when young growths will proceed from the base, and the whole may be lifted and carefully divided. Seeds of these often take a long time to germinate. Cuttings of the young shoots, taken off in either autumn or spring, root readily if inserted singly in pots, and placed in a cold frame; these will flower the following season, at the same time as the offsets. Seeds of the annual species or varieties may be sown out of doors, in a warm border, in April; or in pans, to be placed either in frames or outside. So soon as the plants are up, they should be pricked off into light, rich soil, where they will make rapid progress. There are numerous and beautiful hybrid varieties, with single, and also many with double, flowers; these are, for the most part, superior to the normal species, the most distinct of which are here described, all being perennials, except where otherwise stated.

D. Ajacis.* Common Larkspur. fl. showy blue, or sometimes, reddish or white, not numerous, in terminal racemes, sometimes forming an irregular panicle; spur of the calyx as long as the rest of the flower, or rather shorter; petals two. Summer. l., radical ones shortly stalked; stem ones sessile; all divided into fine linear, deeply-cut segments. Branches few, spreading. h. 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. British cornfields (especially round Cambridgeshire). An erect, hairy annual. The specific name is said to have been derived from the supposition that the form of the letters A J A could be traced in the lines on the petals of the flower. In many works on the British Flora, the species D. consolida has been confused with this. A double-flowered form is shown at Fig. 631. D. albiflorum (white-flowered). A synonym of D. hybridum ochroleucum. D. azureum (blue).* fl. beautiful sky-blue, large; racemes straight; petals all bearded at the apex, lower ones very villous. May to July. l. three to five-parted, many-cleft, with linear lobes; petioles hardly dilated at the base. h. 3ft. North-west America, 1805. (B. R. 1999.) D. Brunonianum (Brown's). fl. light blue, shading to purple on the margins, centre black; large. June and July. l., lower ones reniform, but divided into deeply-cut segments; upper ones tripartite. h. 6in. to 1ft. Thibet, 1864. A rare species, having a very strong musky odour. (B. M. 5461.) D. cardinale (cardinal).* fl. bright scarlet, with the petal limbs distinctly yellow; disposed in spikes. August. l. smooth, deeply palmately-lobed, rather fleshy. h. 3ft. to 4ft. California. A very handsome annual species, remarkably well suited for borders or rockeries, with a good depth of rich soil to facilitate the development of its long fleshy roots. (B. M. 4887.) D. cardiopetalum (heart-petaled). fl. dark bluish-violet; racemes crowded. June. l. smooth, ternate, with multifid segments and linear lobes; those of the branches, as well as the lower bracts, are multifid. Stem erect, a little branched. h. 1ft. Pyrenees, 1818. Annual.

D. cashmirianum (Kashmir).* fl. 1in. to 2in. across, with broad sepals, of a distinct pale blue colour, corymbose. July. l. tufted, with long petioles, palmately-lobed, 4in. or more across, deep green, slightly hairy. h. 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. Kashmir, 1875. (B. M. 6189.) D. cheilanthum (lip-flowered). fl. dark blue; petals shorter than the calyx, two lower ones with obliquely-inflexed, ovate, entire limbs. June to