ACONITUM 



ICONITE8 CONTAINING I '-IK 1 1. \coNlTINE SPICATUM 



Nepal Aconite 



be collectively designated as the East Himalayan Aconites, for although 

 OIK- speeies exists in Kunawar and two in the mountains of Assam and 

 Manipur. their headquarters commercially are Sikkim and Nepal. They 

 are the Nepal Aconites of the shops of Calcutta. The important forms of 

 the series are : 



A. Falconer!, Stapf, I.e. 163-5 ; A. ferox, Royle, Illust. Him. Bot., 

 47 (in part) ; Fl Br. Ind., i., 28 (in part). 



plant occurs in the sub-alpine and alpine Himalaya of Garhwal. and 

 a \\ell-marked variety of it (which Stapf calls lutiioimm) was collected ly 

 Mr. Minniken in Nagli, Bashahr, where it is known as kalamohra (or the very 

 mohra). 



A. laoiniatum, Stapf, I.e. 168-9 ; A. ferox, var. laciniata, Briihl, 

 I.e. v., pt. ii., 11 (in part) ; Agri. Ledg., 1902, No. 3, 96. 



This plant comes from the sub-alpine and alpine Sikkim, whore it is Sikkim Aconite. 

 railed (so Rogers informs us) kalo-bikhuma a name that doubtless would 

 mean thu poisonous bikhurna, in contrast with the non-poisonous bikhuma 

 (i. i>a i >m<t a in above). This isolation of A. i< iniotmn from the true bikh is 

 interesting and important. It shows that it is recognised locally as only a 

 substitute or adulterant for the true root, and in fact it would seem to be ex- 

 elusively so used. Apparently it is the kalabachnag of Moodeon Sheriff, and 

 very possibly the kalakut of other writers. The root is if anything larger than 

 tlie most prevalent "Nepal Aconite" of Sikkim (.4. />/ /KIM below) and 

 has numerous circular scars, indicating fallen lateral roots, so abundant and 

 regular as to resemble nodes or joints. In transverse section the tuber seems 

 to differ from that of .4. Mi>i-<ittnn by the absence of the so-called inner ring of 

 vascular strands enclosing the pith. 



A. lethale, Griffith ; Stapf, I.e. 175-6 (the Mishmi Aconite) ; and 

 A. nag-arum, Staff, I.e. 176-7 (the Naga hills and Manipur Aconite). 

 It is probably safe to regard these as the most eastern members of 

 the series. 



Stapf views the aconite of tho Akhas as being very possibly tho true 

 .1. Hitioitiini. [Cf. Lowin, Arrow-poisons, in Virchow, Archiv. Path. Anat. 

 und Phys., 1894, 138, 289.] 



A. spicatum, Stapf, I.e. 165-8; A. ferox, var. spieata, also var. D.E.P., 

 crassicaulis, Briihl, I.e. v., pt. ii., 110; A. ferox, Fl. Br. Ind., i., 28 (in i., 87-91. 

 part) ; Agri. Ledg., 1902, No. 3, 94-6 (in part) ; and later by Dunstan Nepal 

 and Andrews, Trans. Chem. 'Soc., 1905, Ixxxviii., 1636-50. This is Aconite. 

 the most abundant, most robust, and most characteristic species of 

 alpine Sikkim and Chumbi. 



The chief " Nepal Aconite " of Indian commerce, the bikh, bieh, the ativasa 

 (very poisonous bish) of Sir Walter Elliot ; the mitha-bish, sringi-bish. dagru, 

 bachnag, or talia of Indian writers, and the singia jur or singia khar of Taleef 

 Shere.ef (Playfair, transl.), 1833, 107. Its poisonous principle has been called 

 bihhaconitine by Dunstan and Andrews, and described as closely related to 

 pseudaconitine both in its chemical properties and physiological action. 



The roots are very large, and when fresh are soft, flexible and pale-coloured, 

 In it when quite dry they are hard, dark brown or block externally, and of a 

 l>ru\viiish-red internally. The half-dry root when cut resembles horn (henee 

 the name singyi or singya-bis), but as it matures and dries it becomes hard and 

 has darker-coloured portions developed as embedded irregular patches within 

 the tissue. These patches often appear like resin in consistence. In transverse 

 section Stapf says the tubers are seen to possess cambium strands, continuous 

 and forming a more or less sinuous ring. The secondary sieve-strands of the 

 mother tubers are not encased in sclerenchymatic sheaths. The samples 

 examined by me might perhaps be properly described as having the vascular 

 strands in the form of an irregular sharply pointed star, enclosing a small central 

 pith surrounded by a secondary ring of bundles. To protect the roots from 



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