The larkspur connection

IN Tudor times delphiniums were known as ‘larkspurs’ – today this is more or less confined to annual forms. The Tudors thought the nectary (the delphinium’s nectarsecreting organ) looked like the claw of a lark – not a crow, mind, or a pigeon, or any other bird species, but a lark! Thank goodness, otherwise we might have been calling these plants Dartford warbler-spurs!

The genus name Delphinium comes from the Ancient Greek word for dolphin, mainly because the flowers of D. peregrinum, one of the wild forms, were thought to be dolphin-shaped.

The word delphinium comes from the Ancient Greek word for dolphin, as the flowers of D. peregrinum were thought to be shaped like a dolphin