ACONITE 



295 



abundantly on the lower mountain slopes of central Europe. It is 

 cultivated in England as a garden plant as well as for medicinal use, 

 and is found apparently wild in some localities, but in these cases has 

 probably escaped from cultivation. The drug has only recently been 

 introduced into medicine, although the poisonous properties of the 

 plant have long been known. Both the fresh leaves and flowering 

 tops, as well as the dried roots, have been used ; the latter are, how- 

 ever, now alone official. 



FIG. 147. Aconite root. A, parent and daughter roots of the 

 autumnal plant connected together : 7, parent root"; 5, daughter 

 root ; j8, short branch connecting them ; e, bud at the apex of the 

 daughter root ; natural size. B, longitudinal section through the 

 daughter root : a, bark ; 6, cambium ; c, wood ; natural size. 

 (Berg.) 



The root should be collected in the autumn after the stem and leaves 

 have died down, but before the bud destined to produce the stem for 

 the following year has begun to develop. This bud is protected by 

 cataphyllary leaves, in the axils of which lateral buds are situated. 

 As the terminal bud grows and forms a flowering stem, certain (usually 

 from one to three) of these lateral buds develop into short lateral 

 shoots, each of which produces a long, slender, descending, adventitious 

 root crowned with a bud. These roots rapidly enlarge and fill with 

 reserve material produced by the parent plant, the root of which 

 shrivels and perishes in proportion as the daughter roots increase in 



