a 
ACONITUM CHINENSE. 
(CHINESE ACONITE.) 
CLASS. ORDER. 
POLYANDRIA. TRI-PENTAGYNIA. 
NATURAL ORDER. 
RANUNCULACE^. 
Generic Character. — Calyx of five petal-like irregular, deciduous or macescent sepals, with the upper 
sepal concave and helmet-shaped. Petals two (or hollow nectaries), hidden within the helmet on 
long stalks, expanded into a hollow inverted tube at the apex, drawn out at the ends into a spur, 
which is either straight, hooked, or twisted. — Don's System of Gardening and Botany^ p. 55. 
Specific Character Plant an herbaceous perennial, growing from four to five feet high. Stem erect, 
slightly branched. Leaves alternate, nearly sessile, partially divided into five unequal lobes, some- 
what trapeziform, acute, deeply toothed, the upper surface of a deep green, assuming, when old, a 
purple cast, the under surface of a very light green. jP/ottJers produced terminally, as well as on short 
lateral shoots at the axil of each leaf. Calyx deciduous. Corolla a deep blue. Ovaries five, 
many-seeded. Root napiform. 
This is a new and highly ornamental species of Aconitum, said to be a 
native of Japan, whence it was introduced by Dr. Yon Siebold, about 1833. 
Messrs. Young, of Epsom, who obligingly furnished the drawing, received it from 
two different persons on the Continent, both giving it the same name, and af&rming 
that it was introduced there by Dr. Yon Siebold, at the same time as his Clematis, 
Lilies, &c. ; and from the name, it would appear that it is a native of China, not 
of Japan, to which latter place however China is almost contiguous. 
It is remarkably bold and handsome in its habits, and the flowers are very 
large, and of a most beautiful blue colour ; the terminal flowers expand first, and 
shortly after a great number of flowers are produced, from the axil of every leaf, on 
short lateral shoots, even down to the base of the stem, which gives it a very 
interesting appearance. It remains in flower about two months, and will no doubt 
prove perfectly hardy. 
