July’s Flower: Larkspur

Larkspur Flower, also called Delphinium

People usually know that every month has a birthstone. Well, do you know that ever month has also a flower or two associated with it? I will present to you at the beginning of each month the flower that represents it.

For July, it is the Larkspur ( also called Delphinium ) . This flower varies in size, from 10cm to 2 m! Can you imagine? Taller than me! The Larkspur blooms end of spring until end of summer, and even though we usually know it as the blue or purple flower, it actually comes in shades of yellow, red and even white.

Butterflies and bees love it! You will see them dancing around it all summer.

Even though this flower looks all delicate, and beautiful, you should beware! It is poisonous and very dangerous. Eating a lot of it can cause death! I don’t want to turn this post into drama, but I though I would mention it, just in case you fall in love, and decide to put it in your salad! However as poisonous as they might be in huge amounts, they are used in small doses in medication. It is believed that drinking the seed could help the sting from a scorpion, and that putting it in your hair can help kill lice and nits.

A fun fact: Mixing the juice from the Larkspur seed with alum can create a blue ink. Because of the blue color it used to be used in Transylvania on the stables to ward away witches.