168 VETEKINARY TOXICOLOGY 



RANUNCULACE^. 



This order contains the following poisonous genera : 

 Clematis, Thalictrum, Anemone, Adonis, Ranunculus, Caltha, 

 Hellehoras, Aquilegia, Delphinium, Aconitum, and Actma, 

 members of which are found wild, or are cultivated in 

 Britain, and are widely distributed, especially over northern 

 temperate regions. Only clematis is tropical. Of these the 

 most important, from the standpoint of toxicology, are 

 aconitum, helleborus, delphinium, and ranunculus, and these 

 will therefore be first described. 



Aconitum and Aconitine. 



Botanical Characters. — Aconitum napellus (Pig. 15), 

 monk's-hood or wolf's-bane, is the chief species of the genus 

 aconitum found in Great Britain. ' Stem firm and erect, 

 1| feet to 2 feet high. Leaves stalked, or the upper ones 

 nearly sessile, of a dark green, glabrous or slightly downy, 

 divided to the base into five or seven deeply cut, linear, 

 pointed segments. Flowers large, dark blue, on erect pedicles, 

 forming a handsome, dense, terminal raceme. The upper 

 helmet-shaped sepal at first conceals the lateral ones, but 

 is ultimately thrown back. Spur of the small upper petals 

 short, conical, and more or less bent downwards. Carpels 

 three, often slightly united at the base. Habitat moist 

 pastures, thickets, and waste places in mountainous districts, 

 In Britain wild in the West of England and South Wales.'* 



The plant is exceedingly dangerous, owing its poisonous 

 properties to the alkaloid aconitine, which is present in the 

 root to the extent of about 2 to 4 per cent., and in less pro- 

 portions in the leaves, flowers, and seeds. The maximum 

 content of alkaloid is attained just before flowering, and 

 the proportion is less in the plant growing in higher than 

 in lower latitudes, and also after several generations of 

 culture as an ornamental plant. In the Himalayas the 

 species Aconitum laciniatum and A. spicatum — Bish, Indian 

 * Bentham and Hooker. 



