[Illustration: FIG. 8.--FLOWER AND SEED-VESSELS OF THE MONKSHOOD.]
We are so accustomed to see in our gardens the tall showy perennial called monkshood or wolfsbane (_Aconitum Napellus_), that few persons think of examining the flowers in detail. They well deserve, however, to be examined, as they are very curious in their construction. The showy part of the flower is an ornamental calyx of six sepals, but the upper two of these are larger than the others, and adhere together so as to form a singular sort of covering, like a monk's cowl or hood. (See _a_ in _fig._ 8.) The stamens are numerous, and they encircle three or five oval carpels, with thread-like styles, and pointed stigmas, as shown at _b_; which when ripe burst open at the top (_c_) to discharge the seed, without separating. Carpels of this kind are called follicles. Under the hood, and entirely concealed by it, are the petals (see _fig._ 9), which form what may certainly be considered the most remarkable part of the flower, as they are so curiously folded up that they look more like gigantic stamens than petals. The older botanists described these petals as nectaries, with crested claws. The leaves are divided into from three to five principal segments, which are again deeply cut into several others. The stem of the common Monkshood is thickened at the base, or collar, where it joins the root, so as to give it somewhat the appearance of celery; and hence ignorant persons have been poisoned by eating it. This knotted appearance of the stem is not common to all the species, and it gives rise to the specific name of Napellus, which signifies a little turnip.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--PETALS OF THE MONKSHOOD.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--THE FLOWERS OF THE BRANCHING LARKSPUR.]
The plants belonging to the genus Delphinium, that is to say, the Larkspurs, have their flowers constructed in nearly as curious a manner as those of the different kinds of Monkshood; but they differ in the sepals and petals both forming conspicuous parts of the flower, though they are generally quite distinct both in form and colour, and may be easily traced through all the different forms they assume in the various species. They are, however, perhaps most easily distinguished in the branching or autumnal Larkspur (_Delphinium consolida_). In the flower of this plant the spur (_a_ in _fig._ 10) is the upper sepal of the calyx, and it serves as a cover to part of the petals. There are four other portions of the calyx (_b_), which assume the appearance of ordinary sepals. The petals are four in number; and they are united at the lower part, and drawn out into a sort of tail, as shown at _c_; while the upper part of two of them stands up like asses' ears (_d_) in the centre of the flower; and the others are curiously folded, so as to form a hood over the stamens and carpels, as shown at _e_. The anthers of the stamens resemble those of the Ranunculus; but the filaments are bent, as shown at _f_. The carpels (_g_) are upright, hairy, and terminate in a blunt, fleshy stigma (_h_). When ripe, they open in the same manner as those of the Monkshood. The branching Larkspur has a fusiform or tap root, as shown in _fig._ 11, in which _a_ is the collar, or as the Italians call it _la noda vitale_; and _b_ the fibrous roots, through the points of which the plant takes up its food.