July Birth Flower

Larkspur

Larkspur have laughter and relaxation energy, much like people born in July.

This birth flower is a genus of about 250 species of annual, biennial or perennial flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The plants flower from late spring to late summer, and are pollinated by butterflies and bumble bees. The common name, shared with the closely related genus Consolida, is Larkspur.

Other names are, lark's heel (Shakespeare), lark's claw and knight's spur. The flower has five petals which grow together together to form a hollow flower with a spur at the end, which gives the plant its name. The seeds are small and shiny black. The leaves are deeply lobed with 3-7 toothed, pointed lobes. The main flowering stem is erect, and varies greatly in size between the species, from 10 cm in some alpine species, up to 2 m tall in the larger meadowland species; it is topped by many flowers.

The plant was connected to Saint Odile and in popular medicine used against eye-diseases. It was one of the herbs used on the feast of St. John and us such warded against lightning. In Transylvania, it was used to keep witches from the stables, probably because of its blue color.

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