April 20, 2026
LARKSPUR
The Larkspur, the Delphinium or Dolphin-flower of the ancients, was considered by Linnæus and many other botanists to be none other than the Hyacinth of the classic poets. It is not, however, generally recognised as the flower that sprang from the blood of the unfortunate Hyacinthus, and which to this day bears his name; but is rather regarded as the flower alluded to in the enigma propounded by a shepherd in one of the Eclogues of Virgil.
Tradition states that from the life-blood of the disappointed and infuriated Ajax sprang the Delphinium—the flower which we now know as the Larkspur, upon whose petals it is said may be read the letters A I A, and which the botanists consequently term Delphininium Ajacis—truly a flower upon which the name of a king is written.
The legend concerning the origin of the flower is as follows:—Ajax, the son of Telamon and Hesione, was next to Achilles worthily reputed the most valiant of all the Greeks at the Trojan war, and engaged in single combat with Hector, the intrepid captain of the Trojan hosts, who was subsequently slain by Achilles. After the death of Achilles, Ajax and Ulysses both claimed the arms of the deceased hero: the latter was awarded them by the Greeks, who preferred the wisdom and policy of Ulysses to the courage of Ajax. This threw Ajax into such a fury, that he slaughtered a flock of sheep, mistaking them for the sons of Atreus; and then, upon perceiving his error, stabbed himself with the sword presented to him by Hector; the blood spurting from his self-inflicted death-wound, giving birth, as it fell to the earth, to the purple Delphinium, which bears upon its petals the letters at once the initials of his name and an exclamation of grief at the loss of such a hero.
The generic name of the plant is derived from the Greek delphinion, a dolphin; the flower-buds, before expansion, being thought to resemble that fish. In England, the flower is known by the names of Larkspur, Lark’s-heel, Lark’s-toe, Lark’s-claw, and Knight’s-spur.