ALONITUM. 



as its place of growth. ) — Hood conical, obtufe ; fpurs fpi- 

 ral ; lips inverlely heart-fhaped. Clufter drooping at the 

 fummit before cxpanfion. Leaves in five deep divifions ; 

 lobes pinnatifid, with fpreading, recurved, acute fegments. 

 — Native of Siberia and Tartary ; cultivated in the Upfal 

 garden. Very nearly allied to LycoSonum, but differing in 

 the lea-ues being divided to the very bafe into many pinna- 

 tifid portions, whofe elongated, acute, widely fpreading feg- 

 ments are entire, not at all cut or ferrated. Clujler long, 

 its upper part di-ooping while the flowers remain in bud. 

 BraSeas, both general and partial, very fmall. Stalks fl»orter 

 tlian the flowers, but much longer than their refpeftive 

 bradeas. The reft as in LycoSor.um. De Cand. To this 

 original fpeciraen is attached a different one from Siberia, 

 which we concur with profefTor De Candolle in thinking no 

 other than Lycocl^num. Heace Linnasus is no authority for 

 A. pyrenaicum, v.'hich depends upon other authors, as follows. 

 His herbarium indeed contains, if we miftake not, a fpeci- 

 men of this fpecies, brought by baron Alftroemer from 

 Spain, but confounded by Linnaeus with Lycodorium. 



6. A. pyrenaicum. Pyrenean Wolf's-bane. Lamarck 

 Dift. V. I. 33. Desfont. Tabl. 149. " De Cand. Franc, 

 cd. 3. V. 4. 916. V. 5. 642." (A. pyrenaicum, ampliore 

 fclio tenuius laciniato ; Tourn. Inft. 424. A. n. 6 ; Camer. 

 Epit. 831, with a figure.) — Hood conical, obtufe; fpurs 

 fpiral ; lips obovate. Leaves palmate below the middle, 

 with from feven to nine three-cleft, deeply cut lobes, lying 

 over each other. — Native of rugged meadows on the Pyre- 

 nees, among lofty thickets, flowering in July and Auguft. 

 Tournefort and De Candolle. Related to Lycoclonum, but 

 certainly diftinft. A handfome plant, three or four feet 

 high, downy, with large, long-ftalked, almoft circular lea-ces, 

 whofe main lobes are unequally divided, weJge-fhaped at 

 the bafe, feparated upwards into acute, cut lobes, dilated fo 

 as frequently to overlap each other. Clufler long, cyhndri- 

 ral, denfe, more or lefs branched at the bafe. Stalks often 

 (horter than the flovTers. Lower braReas in three or five 

 lobes ; upper lineai", in the middle of each ftalk, fpreading, 

 from two to five lines long. Floivers pale yellow, externaDy 

 covered with velvet-like down. Gennens hairy. Thefe cha- 

 raficrs are not very ftrong, but they are conftant. Speci- 

 mens gathered by De Candolle in the Pyrenees differed in 

 no refpeft from thofe which have been cultivated at Paris, 

 ever fince the time of Tournefort. De Candolle. We have 

 had no opportunity of enquiring what ftands for this fpecies 

 in the gardens of England, but Miller is moil likely to have 

 received the true plant from France. Our Linman Spanifh 

 fpecimen, mentioned under the laft, correftly anfwers, in 

 every point, to the above defcription. 



7. A. lyco&onum. Great Yellow Wolf's-bane. Linn. Sp. 

 PI. 75c. Willd. n. I. Ait, n. I. Jacq. Auftr. t. 380. 

 Bulliard Fr. t. 63. ViUars Dauph. v. 3. 703, from the 

 author. (A. lycodlonum vulgare, luteo flore ; Cluf. Hift. 

 V. 2. 94. A. luteum ponticum ; Lob. Ic. 677. Ger. Em. 

 970. A. reticulata radice, flore fulphureo-albicante ; Bar- 

 lel. Ic. t. 599, 600. A. n. 2 ; Camer. Epit. 827. Matth. 

 Valgr. V. 2. 431. Napellus flore luteo ; Rivin. Pentap. Irr. 

 t. 329.) — Hood conical, obtufe ; fpurs fpiral ; lips obovate. 

 Leaves downy, divided more than half way, into from three 

 to five lobes, which are three-cleft and jagged. Partial 

 brafteas in the middle of each flower-ftalk. — Native of 

 v/oods, thickets, and grafTy paflures, on the mountains of 

 Switzerland, France, Germany, and Italy, flowering in 

 lummer. This is probably, as M. De Candolle indicates, 

 the real axo»»1o» XvKaAomt of Diofcorides, with whofe imper- 

 feft account it fufGciently agrees. It is one of the moft 

 tommon of this genus, \>v.t not found in Britain. The Jem 



is from two to four feet high, nearly fimple, i.r very much 

 branched, fmooth or downy. Lobes of the leaves more or 

 lefs deep, either clofe or fpreading. Flowers crowded or 

 diftant. M. De Candolle hints that fome of thefe diverfities 

 may afi'ord fpecific diftinftions, but we can fcarcely fuppofe 

 this. He obferves that A. lycofionum differs from barbatum, 

 hlfpidum, and ochroleucum in its fpiral fpurs ; from pyrenaicum 

 in having from three to five, not feven to nine lobes in the 

 leaves, and thofe not lying over each other, as well as in the 

 germens being fmooth, fcarcely at all downy or hairy, and 

 the Jlalks moftly longer than their flowers. From the fol- 

 lowing one, hitherto confounded herewith, it difl'ers in hav- 

 ing pale-yellow, not blue, fo-wers, and the partial braSeas 

 fituated half way up the floiver-ilalks, not near their bafe. 



8. K.feptentrionale. Blue Northern Wolf's-bane. " Koelle 

 Aeon. 22." Willd. n. 7. De Cand. n. 8. Ait. n. 6. (A. 

 lycoftonum ; Linn. Fl. Lapp. ed. 2. 185. Tour in Lap- 

 land, V. I. 36. 47. 278. v. 2. 123. 277. Fl. Dan. t. 123. 

 Calceolus Lapponicus ; Schxff. Lapp. 360.) — Hood corn- 

 eal, obtufe ; fpurs fpiral ; lips obovate. Leaves downy, 

 divided more than half way, into from three to five divari- 

 cated fliarply cut lobes. Partial bracleas at the lower part 

 of each flowcr-flalk. — Native of mountainous thickets aiid 

 paflures on the fides of the Lapland aJps, and through- 

 out Norway, as well as in fome parts of Siberia, and on the 

 Carpathian mountains. Linna;us noticed it alfo about the 

 bafes of the larger hills in Medelpad and Angermanland ; 

 but though he has recorded in Fl. Lapp, that the Jlowers 

 are of a greyifh-blue ; not yellow, as dcfcribed in all the 

 accounts of A. lycocionum ; yet he llill fuppofed his to be 

 the fame fpecies. His own fpecimcn retains evident traces 

 of this blue or grey colour, and anfwers to the diflinftive 

 charafters of the feptetitrionale, as gfiven by De Candolle. 

 The leaves, as that excellent writer remarks, are more 

 acutely toothed. With refpeft to the fituation of the par- 

 tial braSeas, they are rather on the lower part, than at the 

 bafe, of the Jlower-Jlalhs. Thcjloivers are lefs downy, and 

 of a thinner texture, than in lycoBonum. Perhaps if living 

 fpecimens were compai-ed, better charafters might be dis- 

 covered, for there is every reafon to prefume this a diftinft 

 fpecies. Linnxus in Fl. Lapp, fpeaks of the leaves being 

 boiled and eaten with impunity ; and in his Lapland Tour, 

 V. 2. 123, records another inflance of the fame faft. He 

 was juftly aftoniflied, knowing the poifonous quality attri- 

 buted by all wTiters to A. lycoRonum, Perhaps this may 

 ftrengthen our opinion of thefe plants being truly diftinct, 

 for we find no record of the true lycoBomim being ufed as 

 food, in any flate. Haller was one of the firfl botanifls who 

 fuggefted the propriety of feparating thef^ fpecies ; fee his 

 Hift. Stirp. Helvet. n. izoo. Yet there feems little reafon 

 for his wonder, there expreffed, that this Aconitum fliould 

 be fatal to wolves. When recent its quahties are probably 

 very different. 



9. A. ochroleucum. Pale Wolf s-bane. Willd. n. 4. De 

 Cand. n. 9. Ait. n. 3. Marfch. Taurico-Csncaf. v. 2. 14, 

 excluding the fynonym of Tournefort. — Hood conical, 

 elongated ; fpurs' curved ; lips lanceolate. Leaves deeply 

 palmate, fivc-lobcd, fcarcely downy beneath ; lobes deeply 

 three-cleft, acutely jagged and toothed. — Found in moun- 

 tainous meadows ot mount Caucafus ; freqanit about the 

 mineral fprings of Narzana ; flovrering in fummer. Com- 

 municated to us by Dr. Fifcher. The hnbit entirely refem- 

 bles A. lycaaomim, but the furfacc of the herb is nearly 

 fmootli ; the lobes of the leaves are more fharply toothed ; 

 and the fpurs of the ncaaries are rather curved than fpiral. 

 Stem crcft, round, pale green, three or four feet high, with 

 ftraiuht branchea. Ch^er long, branched at the bottom. 



° Lower 



