Alt. II, p. 283; Turczan. Fl. Baical.-Dahur. (1842), p. 81, no. 72. Aconitiim Napellus C. A. 

 Meyer in Ledeb. Fl. Alt. II, p. 283; Turczan. Cat. Baical. no. 77; Ledeb. Fl. Ross. I, p. 69. 

 Aconitum Napellus /S alpinum a ambigiium Kegel, PI. Radd. (1861) p. 103. Aconilum 

 Napellus fi alpinum Kegel, Kpi.M. Oji. Ajit. I (1901) p. 41. Aconitum Napellus fi alpinum 

 b laxum, altaicum et soongaricum Regel, 1. c. p. 104 et 105. [Tab. V, Fig. 1]. 



The specimens referred to this subspecies by me, are especially distinguished from 

 the typical species by having a lower growth, and by having few-flowered stems, general- 

 ly 2-flowered only. The stems are about 20 cm. high, bearing from 1 to 3, generally 2 

 rather large flowers. They are, no doubt, identical with specimens which I have seen 

 in the herbarium of the Imperial Botanical Gardens at Petrograd, with the following 

 inscription, in I urczaninow's hand, on a label: „Aconitum Baicalense mihi ;' alpinum. 

 In alpe Urgudei 1829. Turcz." It is no doubt the same specimens entered byTuRCZANiNOW 

 in 1842, in his Fl. Baical.-Dahur. p. 81, as Aconitum ambiguum Reichenb. After a 

 rather defective diagnosis, agreeing in the main with the above-mentioned specimens, 

 however, he adds the following note: „Tahs est planta, quam in alpe Urgudei et in 



Dahuria inveni, " Regel has, on a subsequent occasion, examined these authentic 



specimens of ruRCZANiNOw's of Aconitum baicalense y alpinum, and has given the 

 following additional note in the sheets: „A. Napellus L. /3 alpinum a ambiguum, lesle 

 Kegel." 



This species, which seemed to be comparatively widely distributed in the alpine 

 regions of central and eastern Asia, has by later authors been referred partly to A. 

 Napellus L.. parlly to A. ambiguum Reichenb. Thus, Komarow enters it in his <I>ji. 

 MaHB^ffiypiH II (1903) p. 259 as A. Napellus fi alpinum lusus a ambiguum Regel (A. 

 ambiguum Turczan.). 



The distinctions between the two said species are, by the way, very trite, and the 

 transition between the varieties of Aconitum Napellus having toothed or smooth sta- 

 mens — as Reichenbach's species A. Hoppeanum and Koelleanum, only to be under- 

 stood as varieties of A. Napellus — especially seemed to be rather insignificant. 



The reason, however, of my acquiescing in referring the specimens in question 

 as a variety to A. ambiguum is owing to the fact that there really are universal although 

 not very strongly marked differences between the Asiatic form and the European ones. 

 The first-mentioned is distinguished by a more slender and fine growth, with fewer 

 and more scattered flowers, and by being generally more or less glabrous, whereas the 

 European A. Napellus with its numerous varieties, by being mostly of a higher and more 

 vigorous growth, more flowery and more densely flowered, with stems more or less 

 distinctly hairy. The segments of the leaves in the Siberian A. ambiguum are also mostly 

 broader than in A. Napellus and its varieties, and always broader than the stem. 



The specimens collected by me in the Altaian are distinguished by stems about 20 

 cm. high, rigid, erect, or sometimes curved at the base. The root is tuberously thick- 

 ened, about the size of a pea. The leaves are completely glabrous, deeply 5 — 7 cleft, 

 or divided, the divisions obovate, cuneate at the base, deeply indented into lanceolate 



246 



