[6] Dioscorides described the plant as having wild grape vine-like leaves, but Barton and Castle considered the name as an allusion to the large wrinkled brown seeds.

[7] This name derivation by Barton and Castle seems to have been arrived at independently by a modern horticulturalist, David Bassett, who also gives a detailed account of his experiences in growing this species.

[6] This meaning is retained in many of the plant's common names in different languages,[7] such as lice-bane in English, matapiojos in Spanish, bit otu in Turkish.

[9][13] Not surprisingly, in view of the long and well-known uses of stavesacre against insect and animal pests, S. macrosperma (D. staphisagria) was investigated by chemists as early as the beginning of the 19th Century.

[14] The completely correct molecular structure of delphinine was not determined until 1971,[15] due to the chemical complexity of this substance, coupled with the technical limitations of the times.

However, it was established quite early that delphinine was a member of the diterpenoid family of alkaloids, and it is often cited in handbooks of poisonous plants as being a representative toxin of the genus Delphinium.