Home › A › Aconitum (From Aconae or Acone a harbour)

Aconitum (From Aconae or Acone a harbour)

(from Aconae, or Acone, a harbour of Heraclea, in Bithynia, near where it is said to abound). Aconite; Monk's Hood; Wolf's Bane. ORD. Ranunculaceae. An extensive genus of very ornamental hardly perennials. Flowers in terminal racemes; sepals five, the upper one helmet shaped, the two sides broader than the two back ones; petals five, small, the two upper with long claws hooded at the tip; the three inferior smaller or undeveloped. Leaves palmate. They thrive well in any ordinary garden soil. If left undisturbed for several years, they will attain a goodly size, and produce fine panicles of handsome flowers. They are invaluable for growing beneath the shade of trees, where they succeed better than almost any other class of plants. All are very easily propagated by divisions of the roots and seeds; the latter should be sown as soon as ripe in a cold frame. Care should be taken not to leave pieces of the roots about, for, with but one exception, those of all the species are very poisonous. Although very unlike horse-radish, they have frequently been mistaken for it, with fatal results; and none of the species should be cultivated in or near the kitchen garden. Sect. I. Roots Tuberous.

A. acuminatum (taper-pointed). fl. bluish purple; spur capitate; helmet closed, conical, beaked, July. l. with cuneate, bipinnate lobes. H. 2ft. to 4ft. Switzerland. 1819.

A. album (white-flowered).* fl. pure white, large, with erect helmet, very freely produced. l. dark green, with oblong-cuneate divisions. August. h. 4ft. to 5ft. Levant, 1752. This is a rare and very handsome species. A. alpinum (alpine). Synonymous with A. Rostratum.

A. ampliflorum (large-flowered). fl. bluish-purple, large; spur obtuse, straight. June. l. with blunt segments. h. 2ft. to 3ft. Austria, 1823. A. angustifolium (narrow-leaved).* fl. deep blue, in spiked panicles; spur capitate; helmet closed, hemispherical; lip bifid. June. l. palmately cut into linear lobes. h. 2ft. to 3ft. Siberia, 1824.

A. biflorum (twin-flowered).* fl. pale blue, usually twin, sessile, the middle rather obscure and with yellowish edges, covered on the back with spreading down; spur truncate; helmet depressed; beak drawn out. June. l. lower ones on long stalks, with linear segments. H. 6in. Siberia, 1817. A very rare alpine species.

A. Cammarum (Cammarum). fl. rich deep purple, on rather loose spikes; spur capitate; helmet closed, hemispherical. July to September. l. with short, bluntish lobes. h. 3ft. to 4ft. Austria, 1752.

A. cernuum (drooping). fl. violet, large, one nodding, loose hairy racemes; spur capitate, or a little hooked; helmet large, arched, beaked. July and