Stavesacre

November 28th, 2009

Botanical Name: Delphinium staphisagria (LINN.)
Family: N.O. Ranunculaceae
Synonym: Lousewort.
Comon Name:Lice-Bane or Stavesacre.
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ranunculales
Genus: Delphinium
Species: D. staphisagria

Part Used: Seeds.
Habitat: Indigenous to Asia Minor and Europe – Mediterranean.It is cultivated in France and Italy. Field verges and in scrub, on hot dry soils. Often found in poor soils.

Description:
Delphinium staphisagria is a perennial plant , with a hairy stem and hairy palmate leaves, composed of five to seven oblong lobes, which have frequently one or two acute indentures on their sides. The flowers form a loose spike at the upper part of the stalk, each on a short peduncle, and are of a pale-blue or purple colour.
Delphinium staphisagria . Delphinium_Staphisagria
It is hardy to zone 8.. The plant has purple flowers. It is in flower from May to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs).
The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, requires well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Stavesacre is a species of Larkspur, a stout, erect herb attaining 4 feet in height.
Stavesacre was well known to both the Greeks and Romans. Dioscorides mentions it, and Pliny describes its use as a parasiticide. It continued to be extensively employed throughout the Middle Ages.

Cultivation: The seeds of this species should be sown in April, where the plants are intended to remain and require no special treatment, growing in almost any soil or situation, but the plants are most luxuriant when given a deep, yellow loam, well enriched with rotted manure and fairly moist. They should be thinned to a distance of 2 feet apart.

Succeeds in most soils and situations but prefers a rich well-drained neutral to alkaline soil and is intolerant of winter-wet soils. Requires an open sunny position. This species is not hardy in the colder areas of the country, it tolerates temperatures down to between -5 and -10°c. A greedy plant, inhibiting the growth of nearby plants, especially legumes.

Propagation:
Seed – sow March in a cold frame or April outdoors. Keep moist and in a shady position until germination takes place. Seed can also be sown either in a cold frame or in situ as soon as it is ripe in mid to late summer, though seedlings from the outdoor sowing can be killed in cold winters[K]. The seed has a limited viability so it should be stored in a sealed container at about 3°c. Temperatures above 15°c inhibit germination. The seed usually germinates in 2 – 9 weeks at 15°c

Constituents: The chief constituents of Stavesacre seeds are from 20 to 25 per cent of alkaloidal matter, which consists chiefly of the bitter, acrid, crystalline, alkaloid Delphinine, an irritant poison, and a second crystalline alkaloid named Delphisine, and the amorphous alkaloid Delphinoidine. Less important are staphisagroine, of which traces only are present, and staphisagrine, which appears to be a mixture of the first three elements.

Medicinal Action and Uses:
Antispasmodic; Cathartic; Emetic; Homeopathy; Odontalgic; Sialagogue; Vermifuge; Warts.

Stavesacre is a very poisonous plant that is rarely used in modern herbal medicine. The seed is antispasmodic, cathartic, emetic and vermifuge. The seeds cause a strong salivation if they are chewed and have been used in the treatment of toothache and other painful conditions of the throat and gums. They are so strongly emetic and cathartic, however, that they are rarely used internally. Externally, a decoction is used to treat itchy skin and parasites. The seed is very poisonous and should be used with great caution. The plant has been used externally in the treatment of warts, lice and itches. A homeopathic remedy is made from the seeds. This is used in the treatment of a variety of ailments including toothache, injuries and headache

Stavesacre seeds are used as a parasiticide to kill pediculi, chiefly in the form of the official ointment, the expressed oil, the powdered seeds, or an acid aqueous extract containing the alkaloids.

These seeds are so violently emetic and cathartic that they are rarely given internally, though the powdered seeds have been given as a purge for dropsy, in very small quantities at first and increased till the effect is produced. The dose at first should not exceed 2 or 3 grains, given in powder or decoction, but the administration of the drug must always be accompanied by great caution, as staphisagrine paralyses the motor nerves like curare.

The seeds are used as an external application to some cutaneous eruptions, the decoction, applied with a linen rag, being effectual in curing the itch. It is made by boiling the seeds in water.

Delphinine has also been employed similarly to aconite, both internally and externally, for neuralgia. It resembles aconite in causing slowness of pulse and respiration, paralysis of the spinal cord and death from asphyxia. By depressing the action of the spinal cord it arrests the convulsions caused by strychnine.

Other Uses
Insecticide; Parasiticide.

A parasiticide is obtained from the leaves. It is quite toxic and so is for external use only. The seed is used to make a potent insecticide, parasiticide and to destroy vermin. It is used to kill head lice.

You may Click & See:
ACONITE
LARKSPUR (FIELD)

Resources:

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/stavas90.html

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Delphinium+staphisagria

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphinium_staphisagria