ACONITUM. 



Flovjers large, irregular, fometimes fulphur-coloured, fomc- 

 times blue, or white. 



All the fpecies are poifonous ; the Jiithone Ms dan- 

 gerous ; the NupeUi highly noxious. The root is always 

 the moft poifonous part, the herbage lefs acrid, and though 

 ill a freih Hate injurious to animals, by drying, or by boihng 

 in water, it becomes fo mild, that fome fpecies, A.fepten- 

 trionak for inilance, are eatable ! Dr. Storck, who found 

 Aconite fo ufeful in chronic rheumatifm, confirmed gout, 

 and venereal fwellings of long duration, employed A. pani- 

 culatum ; but other phyficians have often, without fufficient 

 attention, promifcuoufly given every kind with blue flowers. 



The twenty -eight fpecies at this time known inhabit rough 

 buftiy or woody places, in the northern hemifphere ; eleven 

 are found in Europe, eleven in Siberia, one in Japan, one in 

 North America, and one is common to Siberia aod the 

 weftern part of North America. 



This is a moft natural genus, but very difficult as to the 

 determination of its fpecies, nor has it been properly invef- 

 tigated. Clufius in his time was extremely well acquainted 

 with the European kinds, and requires to be confulted in 

 preference to all other writers. 



Aconitum may be diftributed by the habit, rather than by 

 any charafters, into five feftions, or divifions, as follows. 



Seft. I. Anthora. Flowers pale yellow. Hood convex. 

 Leaves in numerous deep linear fegments. Species i and 2. 



2. Lycoflonum. Flowers pale yellow, or very rarely blue. 

 Hood conical, elongated, fcarcely pointed in front. Leaves 

 in wedge -fhaped lobes. Species 3 — 10. 



3. Napdlus. Flowers blue or white. Hood convex. 

 Leaves in numerous deep linear fegments. Species 1 1 — 14. 



4. Cammarum. Flowers blue or white. Hood conical, 

 or very convex, with a long point in front. Leaves with 

 wedge-fnaped lobes. Species 15 — 20. 



5. Anahates. Flowers blue or white. Hood convex. 

 Stem climbing, fomewhat twining. Species 21 — 25. 



f Such as are not fufficiently defcribed ; 26 — 28. 



\\ Such as are doubtful, or uncertain ; 29 — 35. 



Se£t. I. Anthora. 



To the above charafters are added — Hood acute at the 

 apex. Root with two oblong knobs. 



I. A. Anthora. Wholefome Wolf's-bane. (No. 5 of our 

 former article.) Linn. Sp. PI. 751. Willd. n. 5. Ait. 

 n. 4. Jacq. Auftr. t. 382. (Anthora Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 

 441. Camer. Epit. 837. Rivin. Pentap. Irr. t. 1 28. A. 

 vulgaris. Cluf. Hill. v. 2. 98. A. five Aconitum faluti- 

 ferum ; Ger. Em. 969. A. vera, flore luteo ; Barrel. Ic. 

 t. 609. ) 



/S. atrovirens ; leaves and ftalks fmooth. (A. falutiferum 

 elatius pyrenaicum, fohis atro-virentibus, flore majore ; 

 Tourn. Inft. 425. 



y. confertiforum ; clufter cylindrical, denfe, downy. (A. 

 tuberofum ; Patrin, unpublifhed. ) 



Hood convex, terminating in a point ; fpurs fpiral ; lips 

 inverfely heart-fhaped. Leaves in numerous linear fegments. 

 ■ — Native of rough bufhy places, on the mountains of 

 Europe ; in Switzerland, on the Apennines, and in Siberia ; 

 ^ on the Pyrenees ; y on mount Caucafus. 



Var. a has either a fimple or branched j^ifw, which, like 

 \\\s. fiotver-Jlalks, is either fmooth, or finely downy. B has 

 fmooth dark-green leaves, a taller and fmooth ^fm, lefs con- 

 vex hood, vnth a more abrupt and pointed beak, y is fmaller, 

 with a clofer more cylindrical clujier, whofe main ftalk, as 

 well as the partial ones, are clothed with velvet -like down ; 

 it may be a diftinft fpecies. De Candolle. 



We have not followed, here or eli'ewhere, our learned 

 friend, in his elaborate aflemblage of fynonyms, nor in his 



chronological arrangement of them. To the latter we have 

 objeftions, and the former would only be burthenfome to 

 our plan. We wifh to give our readers an idea of his 

 powers of difcrimination, and to profit by them ourfelves. 



2. A. anthoro'tdeum. Prominent Wholefome Wolf's-bane. 

 (A. pyreoaicum ; Pallas Itin. v. 2. 316, by his herbarium.) 

 — Hood convex ; its back protruding forward, over the 

 pointed beak ; fpurs fpiral ; hps inverfely hcart-fiiaped. 

 Leaves in numerous linear fegments, — Gathered by Palhis 

 in Siberia. This is fo like A. Anthora, that perhaps it may 

 be efteemed a mere variety. It differs only in this refpeft, 

 that the back, or ridge, of the hood is not merely convex, 

 but ftretched forward over the point in front. This plant 

 varies like the former as to the denfity of its clujler, and the 

 fmoothnefs or fine dovminefs of the JJoiver-Jialks. De Can- 

 dolle, We moft readily concur in the opinion of its being a 

 variety of the firft fpecies. 



Seft. 2. Lycoffonum. 



Flowers pale yellow, whitifli, or blueifh ; their hood 

 conical, elongated, obtufe, fcarcely pointed in front. Root 

 tuberous, fending out fibres. Leaves with iomewhat wedge- 

 (haped lobes, deeply toothed, or jagged, at the extremity. 



3. A. barbatum. Bearded Wolf's-bane. P.itrin, unpub- 

 lifiied. " Perf. Enchir. v. 2. 83. Poiret Suppl. to La- 

 marck Dift. v. I. 114." — Hood conical, obtufe; fpurs 

 ftraight ; lips obovate ; wings bearded with a fringe. Brac- 

 teas minute. Stem downy. Leaves in five deep divifions, 

 with hnear pointed lobes. — Native of the eaflern part of 

 Siberia, about Irkoulfk. Patrin. Intermediate between 

 Anthora and LycoSonum, differing from the former in having 

 a conical hood, from the latter in the linear lobes of its leaves; 

 from both in the ftraight fpurs, or fummits of the neflar'ies, 

 (De CandoUe's^fto/f ). 5/i?m round, finely downy, not hif- 

 pid. Leaves with long fcattered hairs on the foofjlalis, and 

 here and there on the under fide ; the upper appearing 

 downy when magnified ; their outline circular, divided nearly 

 to the bafe into five fomewhat cohering lobes, pinnatifid, with 

 linear pointed fegments. Clujler ereft, long and denfe. 

 Stalks ereft, downy, (horter tlian the flowers, having under 

 each a hnear-awlfliaped, fcarcely downy, braSea, ftill fhorter ; 

 as well as a fmaller clofe braHea half way up. Flozvers 

 whitifli, according to Patrin ; pale yellow when dry ; exter- 

 nally downy ; hood elongated ; wings orbicular, with long 

 hairs on their margin and inner furface. Germens downy. 



4. A. hifpidum. Rough-ftalked Wolf's-bane. De Cand. 

 n. 4. — Hood conical, obtufe ; fpurs ftraight ; lips obovate ; 

 wings flightly bearded. Brafteas awl-fliaped, hairy. Stem 

 hairy. Leaves in five deep divifions, with linear, rather 

 acute, lobes. — Found by Pallas, in the eaftern part of 

 Siberia. Lambert. Difi"ers from the laft in its hifpid, not 

 downy, Jlem ; more deeply five-cleft leaves, whofe lobes are 

 not pointed, but rather obtufe, with a httle callous apex ; 

 more hairy braBeas ; and fcarcely bearded luings. The 

 leaves are very like Anthora, but with broader lobes ; Jloivers 

 like LycoSonum, but with ftraight y^arj. Stem ereft, round, 

 fimple ; hifpid chiefly at the bafe, with foft, rather deflexed, 

 hairs ; the top almoft fmooth. Lower leaves on long hairy 



Jlalks, their outline orbicular ; upper fide fcarcely downy ; 

 ribs of the under one hairy. Clujier fimple, rarely with one 

 fmall branch, cylindrical, ereft. Stalks ereft, fhorter than 

 the Jloiuers, which are pale yellow, refembling the laft, but 

 lefs bearded. Bradeas awl-fliaped, ftiaggy, two lines long ; 

 two fmaller ones in the middle of each ftalk. De Candolle. 

 ^. A., fquarrofum. Spreading-lobed Wolf 's-bane. Linn. 

 MSS. in Herb, propr. De Cand. n. 5. (A. n. 2; Linn. 

 Hort. Upf. 152, excluding the fynonyms. A. pyrenaicum ; 

 Linn. Sp. PI. 75 1, excluding the fynonyois, and the Pyrenees 



