190 A GUIDE TO FLORICULTURE. 



MONK'S HOOD. 



(ACONITUM.) 



Of this tribe of herbaceous perennial flowering plants, 

 there appear to be innumerable varieties. This arises 

 from the easy access of the bees in accumulating honey, 

 and carrying the pollen from flower to flower, thus cross- 

 ing the plants without further trouble. The following are 

 the varieties most generally cultivated. The reader may 

 judge of the merits of the different plants. 



A. napellus is the Purple Monk's Hood. The leaves 

 are divided down the petiole, with linear, acute lobes ; 

 ovaries three, smooth. This species is named from the 

 form of the root, which resembles a turnip, and is a strong, 

 active poison ; flowers violet purple, alternately on the 

 spikes ; stem erect,, covered with leaves, and about eighteen 

 inches high. The ancients considered it a deadly poison ; 

 and it is frequently the case that persons in smelling the 

 flower, such is the nature of its deleterious odor, will 

 swoon and have their sight affected for several days. It 

 was the custom in former times to give criminals one 

 drachm of the root, which was sufficient to destroy the 

 vital spark of life, so powerful is the effect on the human 

 system. Many instances could be recorded, where persons 

 have lost their lives by partaking of the foliage, by mis- 

 take, with vegetables. The following experiment, which 

 I hope will not be considered irrelevant, was made by a 

 Mr. Brodie : "An ounce of the juice of the leaves waj 



