NAT. ORDER, 
Multisiliqua. 
ACONITUM NAPELLUS. WOLF'S BANE, OR MONK'S HOOD 
Class XIII. PoLYANDRiA. Older III. Trigynia. 
Gen. Char. Calyx, wanting. Petals, five, the uppermost arched 
Nectaries, two, ped uncled, recurved. Fods, three or five. 
The root of this curious plant is perennial, turnip-shaped, or 
more commonly fusiform ; the stalk is simple, erect, strong, beset 
with a numerous quantity of leaves, and grows from two to five 
feet high; the leaves are lobed, deeply laciniated, and stand alter- 
nately upon long footstalks ; but the upper leaves are almost ses- 
sile, and the lacinise much broader than those towards the bottom 
of the stem; the superior jpag^iwa of the leaf is of a dark color ; 
but the under pagina is whitish ; the peduncles are generally uni- 
floral, erect, and villous ; the Jlowers terminate the stalk ; they are 
without calyces, and grow in a long racemus, or spike; each 
flower consists of five petals, which include two nectaries ; the 
upper peto/ is arched over the lateral ones, so as to appear hel- 
met-shaped, or hooded ; they are all of a purplish or deep violet 
color ; the pistils are three, four, and sometimes five. The Aco- 
nitiim is a native of the mountainous and woody parts of Germany, 
"ii France, and Switzerland ; but since the time of Gerard, it has 
been cultivated as an ornament in most of the flower gardens 
throughout Europe, and to some extent in this country. 
The figure of this plant was formerly given by Storeck, and 
supposed by Haller and Bergius, to be the Aconitum camnia- 
rum of Linnaeus. Murray, however, was of a different opinion ; 
Vol, u.— 104 
i 
