﻿1833 : Dr. Lloyd. — Somersetshire ; In watery ground, on both sides of a brook, 

 at Ford, near YViveliscomb, for the course of a mile or more, as well as in other 

 similar situations in that neighbourhood, 1825: Mr. T. Clark, jun. in With. 

 Bot. Arr. 



Perennial. — Flowers in June and July. 



Root thick and fleshy, tapering, somewhat tuberous ; of a brown 

 colour on the outside, and yellowish white within. Stem upright, 

 from 3 to 4, or 5 feet high ; simple, leafy, clothed with minute 

 recurved hairs. Leaves alternate ; lower ones on long, upper ones 

 on short leaf-stalks ; clothed with a few minute recurved hairs like 

 those on the stem, divided to the base into 5 lobes, each lobe cut 

 into numerous, strap-shaped, pointed, somewhat revolute segments ; 

 nearly smooth on both sides ; paler underneath, marked on the 

 upper side with a furrow along the course of the mid-rib. Flowers 

 large, dark blue, terminating the stem in a solitary, simple, upright 

 cluster. Several varieties of this species are cultivated in gardens. 



The plant from which the drawing was made, was sent from its 

 locality near the river Teme, to the Oxford Botanic Garden, in 

 1819, by the Rev. Edward Whitehead. 



Every part of the fresh plant is strongly poisonous, but the root is particularly 

 virulent, and many instances of its fatal effects are recorded both by ancient and 

 modern writers; nevertheless, as frequently happens when rightly understood, 

 qualities the most baneful may be converted into blessings, and in the present 

 instance Dr. Storch, a German physician, advocates the medical virtues even 

 of the Aconite. Dr. Lempriere (Lectures, p. 234) declares it to possess a 

 caustic suffocating quality, by which swallowing is immediately affected and 

 the stomach corroded. Dodonjeus relates an instance, recent in his time, of five 

 persons at Antwerp, who ate the root by mistake, and all died. Dr. Turner 

 also mentions, that some Frenchmen at the same place, eating the shoots of this 

 plant for those of Masterwort ( Imperatoria ostruthiumj , all died in the course 

 of two days, except two players, who quickly evacuated all that they had taken 

 by vomit. Theie is an account, in the Philosophical Transactions, of a man 

 who was poisoned, in the year 1732, by eating some of this plant in a salad, 

 instead of celery ; and Dr. Willis, in his work De Anima Brutorum, gives an 

 instance of a man who died in a few hours, by eating the tender leaves of this 

 plant also in a salad. Mor.eus relates a case of a person in Sweden, who hav- 

 ing eaten some of the fresh leaves of the Napellus, became maniacal, and the 

 surgeon who was called to his assistance, declared that the plant was not the 

 cause of the disorder; and to convince the company that it was perfectly inno- 

 cent, he eat freely of its leaves; but he suffered by his temerity, for soon after 

 he died in great agony. Physiologists suppose the pernicious effects of this 

 plant to be produced by irritating the nervous coats of the stomach and intes- 

 tines, so as to occasion violent convulsions through the whole body. To relieve 

 the stomach of its noxious contents, an infusion of tobacco, followed by oily and 

 mucilaginous medicines have been recommended. The juice was formerly 

 used by savage nations for the purpose of poisoning arrows; and also to poison 

 flesh with, for the destruction of wolves, foxes, and other ravenous beasts. — 

 LiNNiEUs says, it is fatal to kine and goats, especially when they come fresh to 

 it, and are not acquainted with the plant ; but that it does no injury to horses, 

 who eat it only when dry. Monk's-hood should not be planted where children 

 have access, lest they should put the leaves or flowers in their mouths, or rub 

 them about their eyes, fora great disoider may be thus occasioned ; and the 

 farina of the flowers blown into the eyes will cause dangerous inflammation. — 

 See Mill. Gard. Did . — Woodv. Med. Bot. — With. Bot Am— and Don's Gen. 

 Syst. of Gard. and Bot. 



