16 INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 



The uppermost leaves are more simple than the lower, and 

 gradually pass into the bracts of the beautiful raceme of dull blue 

 helmet-shaped flowers which crown the stem. The taste of the 

 leaves is at first mawkish, but afterwards persistently burning. 

 The taste of the fresh root has a sharp odour of radish whicli 

 disappears in drying. Its taste which is at first sweetish soon 

 becomes alarmingly acrid, accompanied with a sensation of 

 tingling and numbness. (Fluck. and Hanb.). Flowers f-lin., 

 long. " Bright or dull greenish blue" (Hk. f., and Thorns.)- 

 Sepals 5, petaloid, posterior (helmet) vaulted, the rest flat. 

 Petals 2-5, two posterior clawed ; limb hooded and enclosed in 

 the helmet. Helmet shallow, tapering to a slender beak, 3 times 

 as long as In gh. Racem es : — Simple, few— or many-flowered, or 

 sparingly compound. Bracts entire or trifid. Stamens many. 

 Follicles 3-5 in. in Indian forms ; hairy, sessile. Seeds many. 

 Testa smooth. This is a very variable plant. 



" Recent investigations into the Chemistry of the Indian 

 Aconites, and my own examination of a great mass of herbarium 

 material, many times richer than that whicli was at the disposal 

 of the authors of the Flora Indiea, as well as histological studies 

 concerning the root- tubers of the Indian Aconites, have con- 

 vinced me that the European Aconitum Napellus does not occur 

 in India, either in its typical form or what we might be justified 

 in calling varieties of it." (Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden, 

 Calcutta, Vol X, p. 121. ' The Aconites of India ' by L)r Otto 

 Stapf). 



Part used :— The root. 



Use ; — Its febrifuge and tonic properties are mentioned in all 

 works on Materia Medica. 



16. A. heterophyllum. Wall. h.f.br.l, i. 29. 



8yn. : — A. cordatum, Royle. 



Sanskrit : — Sanskrit writers describe two varieties of this 

 root . — (i) white and (2) black. The synonyms of the white 

 variety are : — Ativisha (very poisonous) ; Sukla Kanda (white 

 root) ; Visha (poisonous) ; Prativisha (Counter-poison or anti- 

 dote). The Synonyms of the second variety are : — Shyama 



