MONKSHOOD. 



337 



straighter, but very broad, while the two lowest of all 

 are comparatively small and narrow. The whole five 

 are bright blue in colour. Pull off these petal-like 

 sepals, and you come to the real petals beneath them. 

 At first you can hardly find them at all ; you see only 

 two long blue horns, covered till now by the helmet- 

 shaped upper sepal or cowl, and each with a queer 

 cup-like sac at its extremity, containing a small drop 

 of clear fluid. That fluid is honey, but I should advise 

 you to be careful, in tasting it, not to bite off any of 

 the flower, for monkshood is the plant from which we 

 get the now famous poison, aconitine ; and a very 

 little of it goes a long way. Unlike as they are to 

 the familiar yellow petals of the buttercup, one can 

 still gather from their position that the two long 

 horns are really petals. But where are the three 

 others ? Well, you must look rather close to find them, 

 and perhaps even then you won't succeed after all j 

 for sometimes the three lower petals have disappeared 

 altogether, being suppressed by the plant, as of no 

 further use to it. In this particular specimen, how- 

 ever, they still survive as mere relics or rudiments, 

 three little narrow blue blades, not nearly as big as a 

 gnat's wing, placed alternately to the lower sepals. 

 As for the stamens, they are still present about as 

 numerously as in the buttercup ; whereas the carpels, 

 or fruit-pieces, are reduced to three only, which in the 

 ripe seed-vessels here on the lower and older part of 

 the spike grow into long pods or follicles, each con- 

 taining several seeds. 



