Herb of the Season: Larkspur by Dawn "Belladonna" Thomas

(Delphinium Consolida)

Poisonous

Alternate names: Lark’s Heel, Lark’s Toe, Lark’s Claw, Knight’s Spur, Staggerweed

Part Used: Flowering Herb

Planets: Venus

Gender: Feminine

Element: Water

Power: Health and Protection

The name Delphinium comes from Delphin (a dolphin) was given to these genus because the buds (the glad in the blossoms that secrete nectar) were held to resemble a dolphin. Shakespeare mentions the plant under the name of Lark’s Heel. The name Consolida refers to the plant’s power of consolidating wounds.

Many delphiniums are poisonous to cattle.

The active principle of the plant – Delphinine – is the same as Stavesacre and is an irritant poison. Children should be warned against putting any part of this plant, or of its garden representatives, into their mouths. The seeds are especially dangerous and cause vomiting and purging if eaten.

Botanical:

Delphinium is a stately, elegant perennial that is a standard in English cottage gardens. Mounds of dark green, glossy foliage are adorned with huge spikes of showy, spurred flowers in early summer. Another common name is larkspur, although this name usually refers to annual varieties.

Stavesacre (poisonous) is a species of Larkspur, a stout erect herb attaining four feet in height. It is indigenous to Asia Minor and southern Europe. It is cultivated in France and Italy mostly from Trieste and from the south of Italy.

Annual larkspurs (sometimes separated as the genus Consolida) include the common rocket larkspur and its varieties, with bright blue, pink, or white flowers on branching stalks. Perennial larkspurs tend toward blue flowers but vary to pink, white, red, and yellow. Many hybrids have arisen, notably the cultivars ‘Belladonna’ and ‘Bellamosa,’ which bear large blue to violet flowers on tall branched spires.

Scarlet larkspur (Delphinium cardinale) has lovely flowers for the summer garden. Candle larkspur (Delphinium elatum) is one of the sources for many of the most beautiful delphinium hybrids today. The flowers are now available in white, lavender, blue, and purple.

The Belladonna hybrids are light blue with 5-foot stalks and, if spent flowers are removed, they will usually produce blooms all summer long. Casa Blanca is pure white. The Blackmore and Langdon hybrids were first developed in 1905. Today's plants bear pastel blue, lavender, white, violet, and indigo flowers on 4- to 5-foot stems. The Pacific Coast hybrids produce 7-foot stalks that must be staked even when given protection; the flowers in various shades of blue and pink are spectacular. Magic Fountain is a dwarf version growing to 30 inches with double blooms.

Connecticut Yankee is a bush delphinium with single flowers of mixed colors on 30-inch stalks. The Siberian larkspur(Delphinium grandiflorum or D. chinensis), has finely cut foliage and blue flowers on 2- to 3-foot stalks, blooming the first year from seed if started early. Blue Mirror has gentian-blue flowers, and Alba is white.

The alternate leaves are cut and divided. Plants produce tall spikes of showy flowers, usually in shades of blue, each having a long spur behind the petals. The flowers are in short racemes, pink, purple or blue, followed by glabrous follicles containing black, flattened seeds with acute edges and pitted surfaces. The seeds are poisonous, have an acrid and bitter taste, but are inodorous.

Lore:

We find references to larkspur passed down with Midsummer celebrations. There are references of a custom widespread throughout Europe to strengthen the eyes by looking at the Midsummer ritual fire through bunches of larkspur or other flowers held in hand.

Stavesacre was well known to both the Greeks and Romans. Dioscorides mentions it, and Pliny describes its use as a parasiticide. It continued to be extensively used throughout the Middle Ages.

Homeopathic and Herbal Uses:

Caution: This herb is perhaps too powerful for internal use. The seeds if eaten cause severe vomiting and purging.

When prepared as a well filtered wash it could be used to bathe the eyes. A tincture can be made using the seed and acts as a parasiticide and insecticide, being used to destroy lice and nits in the hair. Add a few drops to shampoo. The fresh juice of the leaf is applied as a poultice for bleeding hemorrhoids.

The expressed juice of the petals with the addition of a little alum makes a good blue ink.

Magical uses; Gaze at the Midsummer fires through a bunch of larkspur to strengthen the eyes. Delphinium provides generous, altruistic leadership. The larkspur keeps away ghosts. If you look through a bunch of larkspur at a Midsummer fire your eyes will be preserved for the next year, until another Midsummer. The flowers frighten off scorpions and other venomous creatures.

Larkspur may be used in ritual healing, particularly when the eyes are involved. Those wishing to improve the quality of their sight, not only the physical but their ability to perceive the world around them, would be wise to work with this herb.

Larkspur (or even the delphinium found in our gardens) makes a lovely decoration for the Midsummer temple. We suspect, but cannot verify, that the name is derived from Delphi.

Sources:

Beyerl, Paul. A Compendium of Herbal Magick. Phoenix Publishing Inc. Custer Washington. 1998

Grieve, M. A Modern Herbal Volume II. Dover Publications, New York. 1971

Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. Llewellyn Publications. St. Paul, Minnesota. 2000.

Hopman, Ellen Evert. A Druid’s Herbal for the Sacred Earth Year. Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont. 1995

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=DELPH

http://www.garden.org/plantguide/?q=show&id=2046

http://home.howstuffworks.com/delphinium-larkspur.htm

"larkspur." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 05 Jun. 2009 <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/330654/larkspur>.