188 ACONITUM. 
Although the plants from which Royle actually drew up his description of Aconitum laeve seem 
to be lost, and the type specimens quoted above may only be considered as such by inference, there 
сап be no doubt whatever about the plant which Royle had in view. Moreover, there is an excellent 
drawing in the collection at Kew, representing a young flowering specimen of the plant described here 
аз А. laeve, anl named іп Royles handwriting “A. laeve Royle, v. Ill. Ranunculacee” with the 
additional note * Peer Punjal.” Royle was well aware of the close affinity of A. ілерг and A. septen- 
trionale Koelle (i.¢., the original A, Гусосіопит of Linnaeus), and considered them as representative 
species (Z. с. 45). A. laeve is one of the rather numerous and ill-defined forms which make up the 
А. Lycoctonwm of most authors, a * species collectiva” extending over nearly the whole of Europe and 
temperate Asia. It differs from the A. Lycoctonum of north and north-east Europe in the usually 
smaller yellowish or purplish flowers, in the straight and gibbous or recurved (not revolute) hood of the 
nectaries and their longer lip, in the more divergent follicles and the finer and more solid (not hyaline) 
transverse wrinkles of the seed. A. laeve varies considerably with respect to hairiness, the colour 
and size of the flowers, and the shape of the helmet. There is, however, only a vague indication of the 
geographical separation of some of those variations. Thus the specimens from Chitral, Hazara and 
Baltistan have hairy, those from Kashmir mostly glabrous, carpels, whilst further eastwards both forms 
seem to occur indiscriminately, In a similar way an imperfect differentiation into a small and a large- 
flowered race may be observed, the former being prevalent in the western parts of the area (Lahul and 
westwards’, the other in the eastern. 
РгАтв 92. Aconitum laeve Royle—1, Inflorescence, small-flowered form ; 2, inflor- 
escence, large-flowered form; 8, a basal leaf (petiole cut); 4, infructescence—natural 
size; 5, a flower in longitudinal section; 6, nectary, usual form; 7, nectary, extreme 
recurved form; 8, stamen; 9, gyncecium; 10, seed; 11, seed, transverse section—da// 
enlarged; 12, root—natural size. 
(1, 5, 6, 8, 9, from Kashmir, C. B. Clarke 24259; 2, from Garhwal, Jacquemont 698 ; 
3, 4, 7, 10, 11, from Kashmir, Baltal, Thomson ; 12, from Kedarkanta, Gollan, 1348.) 
9, Aconitum LURIDUM Поок. f. & Thoms. Fl. Ind, i. (1855), p. 55; Hook. fil. 
Him. Journ. ii (1851) p. 108 (name only) and Fl Brit. Ind. i. p. 
28; Watt Dict. Econ, Prod. Ind. i. p. 94, and in Agric, Ledger, 1902 
No. 3, p. 88; Brühl in Ann. Roy. Bot. Gard. Caleutta, v. ii. p. 112, 
plate 124. : 
[ТҮРЕ spECIMENS: Collected by J. D. Hooker, on th 
Sli i tiic y | | | e Tankra Pass and Cho-la, Eastern 
Root perennial, descending, elongate, cylindric ultimatel i i 
or anastomosing strands. Stem erect, from à кіріс ог, іп old =s à жені "iiti 
headed collar which is covered with the brown, dilated bases of the old рео] 
unbranched, up to 80 сш. high, softly hairy to tomentose or sometimes glabrate гн » 
the base, hairs spreading, rarely curved and adpressed. Leaves few (up to 4) ec қ 
the collar on very long (up to 30 em.) petioles which are dilated at the base; 8—6 бет 
төге, irom the stem, distant, similar to the basal but gradually smaller Өтүн hn cewek 
divisions and the upper with rapidly decreasing petioles, basal and lower blades setts 
both sides (below chiefly on the nerves), orbicular-cordate or reniform in outlin mi = 
narrow or more often wide sinas (1—9 cm. deep), 2:5— 0-5 em. from the sinus ен = E s 
9—7, rarely 12 cm. across, 5-palmati-partite to 3 (in the largest to ане d e tp, 
obovate-cuneate, 115—3 em. wide, 3-lobed, outermost trapezoidal 2-lobed Jeb = эрен 
and acutely inciso-dentate or apiculate-crenate. Inflorescence Bonae ' u г susya 
long, narrow, rather dense, rarely with a few additional branches from © ы. = 
, wit 
