The language, legends and history for the larkspur; the flower for those born in the month of July.
Every flower has a history and every flower symbolizes something. Often the history and symbols are confusing and contradictory but they are still fascinating. If your birthday is in the month of July, your flower is the larkspur. Here is the story and language of your flower.
Linguistic Roots for the Name Larkspur
The larkspur’s common name refers to its appearance. To some, the blossom resembles the claw of a bird.
The larkspur has often shared its identity with the delphinium. The original Latin name for the flower was Delphinium Consolida. Later, botanists divided them into to separate groups and the larkspur became Consolida ambigua – an undetermined plant.
A popular annual larkspur, Rocket Larkspur, owes its Latin name, Delphium ajacis, to the Greek hero Ajax. When Achilles was killed, his armor was supposed to be given to the most heroic of the Greeks who remained alive. The two candidates for this reward were Odysseus and Ajax.
Minerva swung the vote to Odysseus since she felt heroes should mix intelligence with bravery and Ajax was not very sharp. The dishonor drove Ajax mad and he began killing a herd of sheep believing them to be his rivals. When he realized with he had done, Ajax felt the honorable thing to do was to kill himself and so he impaled himself on his sword. Where his blood fell, larkspurs grew. On their petals, one can find the Greek letters AI, which is the Greek cry of mourning.
History of the Flower
The European form of larkspur supposedly had medicinal properties that made it useful in healing poisonous stings.
The European larkspur was also dried and used in a powdered form as an insecticide.
An another American larkspur. the nuttalianum, was named after the botanist Thomas Nuttal. The plant was known to West Coast tribes who used it to make a blue dye. Later, settlers used it to make ink.
Like many natural historians and scientists, Nuttal went to extremes for his profession and as a result was dubbed ‘Le Fou’ by his colleagues. Nuttal had the habit of using his rifle to dig up plant samples. As a result, when Indians attacked his party, he was unable to help defend the group as the barrel of his weapon was full of dirt.
Take a look at a complete list of Flowers of the Month.
Speaking with the Larkspur
If you send larkspur to someone, you are sending a message that you value laughter and purity of heart.
Sources
Wells, Diana. 100 Flowers and How They Got Their Names. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1997
