ACONITUM. 



Lower bradeas in three or five fegfments, often reflexed ; 

 upper linear ; partial ones in the middle of each fioiver-Jlalk, 

 two lines long. Fh-wers pale buff, crowded, remarkable 

 for their long and (lender hood, meafuring above an inch. 

 Slalhs Ihorter than the flowers. Spurs of the nedaries curioufly 

 involute. 



10. A. japonicum. Japan WolPs-bane. Thunb. Jap. 231. 

 Willd. n. 2. De Cand. n. 10. (Soo Hufo of the Japanefe.) 

 — Hood conical, obtufe. Leaves palmate, three-lobed ; 

 lobes obtufe, cut ; their fegments rounded, with a point. — 

 Gathered in Japan by Thunberg, who defcribes this fpecies 

 as allied to lycoBonum. The Jlcm is round and fmooth. 

 Leaves ftalked ; their lateral lobes in two fegments ; middle 

 one in three ; all obtufe, deeply toothed ; their teeth 

 founded, with a point. Clujler fhort. Thunberg. 



Sed. 3. Napellus. 



Flowers blue or white, never buff-coloured ; their hood 

 convex, tapering into a point in front. Stem ftraight. 

 Clufter cylindrical. Roots fibrous, from a rather tuberous 

 ftock. Leaves lobed in a palmate manner, many-cleft ; 

 their fegments linear. 



All the fpecies of this fedtion having been confounded 

 under A. Napellus, De CandoUe has thought right to lay 

 afide that fpecific name entirely. But even he is doubtful 

 whether they are not all one fpecies ! 



11. A. vulgare. Common Monk's-hood. De Cand. 

 n. II. (A. Napellus; Linn. Sp. PI. 751. " Koelle 

 Aeon. 14, with a figure." Woodv. Med. Bot. t. 6. Sm. 

 Prodr. Fl. Graec. Sibth. v. i. 372. A. lycoftonum 6, 

 Napellus vulgaris ; Cluf. Hift. v. 2. 96. Napellus ; Matth. 

 Valgr. V. 2. 440. N. verus caeruleus ; Ger. Em. 972. N. 

 flore minore ; Rivin. Pentap. Irr. t. 130.) — Germens three, 

 fmooth. Wings hairy on the infide. Clufter cylindrical, 

 elongated. Leaves in five divifions to the very bafe, with 

 many linear acute fegments, each with a longitudinal furrow 

 on the upper fide. — Native of mountainous meadows in 

 moft parts of Europe, from Switzerland, Germany, France, 

 Spain, and Italy, to Greece, flowering in fummer, and one 

 of our moft common garden plants ever fince the days of 

 Gerarde. Dr. Leech fent us fpecimens from Scotland ; 

 but there is reafon to doubt the plant's being really wild in 

 Britain. De Candolle diftinguifhes this from all its rela- 

 tions, though, as he fays, with difficulty, by the fimple, 

 ftraight, upright ^y?;-™, almoft always terminating in a fimple 

 cylindrical clofe clujler, and not corymbofe ; leaves with 

 linear fegments, that are hardly at all dilated at the extre- 

 mity, marked with a furrow, and not refembling any others, 

 except perhaps thofe of A. tauricum, whofe clujler is the 

 only one more denfe than the prefeut ; hood convex, rather 

 scute at the fummit, but not gibbous or elevated at the back, 

 as in intermedium, rojlriitum, and variegatum ; ivings hairy on 

 the infide, which in tauricum, paniculatum, Sic. are fmooth ; 

 germens fmooth, never more than three, not five, and hairy ; 

 capfuhj fix lines long, and not an inch, as in A. neubergenfe. 

 The prefent fpecies however, being very common, is ex- 

 tremely variable ; the whole furface is fometimes quite 

 fmooth, fomelimes downy, efpecially about xhejloivers ; the 

 furrow on the fegments of tlie leaves is more or lefs diftinft ; 

 the Jlo'wers naturally blue, or (in the variety called by 

 S<:hultz bicolor) w'hite r^t the bafe, blue at the fummit, 

 become in gardens white, pofe-coloured, purple, or varie- 

 gated. De Candolle. Their moft ufual and well-known 

 colour is a deep and gloomy blue ; we have feen no other. 

 Dr. Sibthorp's Greek plant muft reft on his own authority, 

 being only mentioned in his MSS., without any accompany- 

 ing Ipecimen ■, nor were the fpecies of this genus fo accu- 

 rately noted in his time. 



12. A. JlriSum. Straight Monk's-hood. « Bernli. 

 Monogr." De Cand. n. 12. — Germens three, fmooth. 

 Wings hairy on the infide. Clufter cyhndrical, elongated. 

 Leaves in five divifions to the very bafe ; their lobes 

 wedge-ftiaped, jagged at the fummit. — Native country 

 unknown. Clofely related to the laft, but differing in the 

 three or five divifions of the leaves being wedge-ftiaped in 

 their lower part, and cut at the extremity into oblong lobes, 

 which are ftiorter, blunter, and twice as broad as in that ; 

 the clujler is ftiorter, with little ftiort branches at its bafe. 

 Perhaps this may not be fufficiently diftinft from the fol- 

 lowing. De Candolle. 



13. A. neubergevfe. Broad-leaved Monk's-hood. De 

 Cand. n. 13. (A. Napellus; Herb. Linn. Jacq. Auftr. 

 t. 382. Ehrh. PL Off. n. 87. «' Palmftr. Suec. t. 46." 

 A. lycoftonum, vel neubergenfe ; Cluf. Hift. v. 2. 96. 

 Morif. feft. 12. t. 3. f. II. A. purpureum neubergenfe ; 

 Ger. Em. 973. A. fohorum laciniis hnearibus, fupern^ 

 latioribus, linea exaratis ; Linn. Hort. Chff. 214. Morasus 

 m Stockh. Tranf. for 1739. 43. t. 2. Napellus flore 

 majore ; Rivin. Pentap. Irr. t. 131.) — Germens three, 

 fmooth. Wings hairy on the infide. Clufter cylindrical, 

 elongated, lax ; ftalks downy, rather fpreading. Leaves in 

 five deep, wedge-ftiaped, three-lobed, jagged fegments. — 

 Native of alpine meadows in various parts of Germany, 

 Hungary, Siberia, &c., flowering rather later than A. vul- 

 gare, and no lefs common in gardens than that fpecies, with 

 wliich it is generally confounded. Clufius ha\-ing originally 

 met with this plant in the greateft abundance on the mountain 

 called Neuberg, in Styria, De Candolle has chofen the 

 above fpecific name, which is indeed preferable to the mon- 

 grel one of neomontanum, adopted by fome writers. The 

 fpecies before us is faid to differ from vulgare, in having 

 broader leaves, whofe rather wedge-ftiaped divifions are more 

 connefted at the bafe ; three-cleft and cut at the extremity, 

 into acute fegments, thrice the breadth of vulgare, and not 

 marked with any furrow. The clujler alfo is more lax, its 

 ftalks always downy, more fpreading, and longer than the 



Jlo'wers. The capfules, according to Wahlenberg, are three, 

 above an inch long, fpreading, thofe in the middle part of 

 the clufter exceeding the length of their ftalks. 



14. A. tauricum. Taurian Monk's-hood. Wulf. in 

 Jacq. Coll. V. 2. 112. Jacq. Ic. Rar. t. 492. De Cand 

 n. 14. "Koelle Aeon. 15." (A. Napellus; Bull. Fr. 

 t. 45 ? De Cand. A. lycoftonum quartum tauricum ; Cluf. 

 Hift. V. 2. 95. A. violaceum ; Ger. Em. 973.) — Ger- 

 mens three, fmooth. Wings fmooth. Clufter cylindrical, 

 elongated, very denfe ; ftalks fmooth, ftiorter than the 

 brafteas. Leaves in five divifions to the very bafe, fome- 

 what pedate, with linear lobes. — Native of the alpine heights 

 of Tauria, Carinthia, &c. flowering in fummer. Very 

 like vulgare, but the fmooth -wings and Jloiverjlalis, the 

 latter ftiorter than their braHeas ; the ftiort denfe clujler, 

 whofe main ftalk is concealed ; and the pedate, more wedge- 

 ftiaped, linear-lobed, fcarcely furrowed leaves, are thought 

 by De Candolle to afford fufficient differences. 



Seft. 4. Cam/narum. 



Flowers blue or white ; hood very convex, or conical, 

 ending, often abruptly, in a point in front. Cluiler lax, 

 fomewhat corymbofe. Stem ftraight. Leaves deeply divided, 

 in a palmate manner, into wedge-ftiaped lobes. Roots 

 navew-ftiaped, intermixed with fmall fibres. 



For the fame reafon as concerns the laft feftion, the 

 fpecific name Cammarum is here laid afide, having been 

 varioufly applied by different botanifts. De Candolle fuf- 

 pefts all the fpecies of the prefent feftion, or at leaft the 

 firft four, may be varieties of each other ! 



15. A. 



