44 RANUNCULACEvE. 



squamigerous. Embryo minute, at the base of the fleshy 

 albumen : radicle next the hilum. 



Herbs, either erect, reclining, or trailing ; with perennial, 

 often tuberous or thickened and fascicled roots, and simple 

 or branching leafy stems, bearing large and showy flowers 

 in terminal racemes or panicles. Leaves alternate, palmate- 

 ly 3 - 5-parted or cleft; the divisions usually incised or 

 many-cleft. Petioles mostly dilated at the base. Pedicels 

 bracteolate. 



Etymology- 'Akovitov, the ancient name ; by some supposed to be de- 

 rived from Acone, a town in Bithynia. The popular name of Monk's-hood 

 is evidently derived from the shape of the upper sepal, especially in the 

 section Napellus ; and that of Wolf's-bane, from the use which was made 

 of some species in Europe for poisoning wolves. 



Properties. Deadly narcotico-acrid poisons, especially the root, owing 

 to the presence of a peculiar alkaloid principle, which has been called aco- 

 nita. The leaves of several species have been used in medicine. — Several 

 are cultivated for their showy flowers. 



Geographical Distribution. A genus of 30 or 40 described species, 

 natives of the northern temperate zone, chiefly in the colder regions or on 

 mountains. The two species of the United States (namely, A. reclinatum, 

 Oral/, which is nearly white-flowered, and allied to the European A. Ly- 

 coctonum, and A. uncinatum, L.) belong to the Alleghany Mountains, or 

 nearly so. 



PLATE 16. Aconitum uncinatvjm, Linn., — summit of a stem in fruit 

 and flower ; of the natural size. 



1. Flower with the sepals and (two) petals detached. 



2. Diagram of the aestivation of the calyx. 



3. Vertical section through the enlarged flower, dividing the galea, show- 



ing one petal in place, &c. 



4. A magnified stamen ; inside view. 



5. The same, seen from the outer side. 



6. A.pistil, magnified. 



7. The same, with the ovary divided longitudinally. 



8. Transverse section of the same. 



9. An ovule, more magnified. 



10. A seed, magnified. 



11. Vertical section of the same. 



12. Embryo, detached, and highly magnified. 



