ACO 
3. Achyranthes ( Lappacea ) caule eredto, fpica intcr- 
° rupta, floribus externe lanatis. Lin. Sp. Plant. 204. 
Achyranthes with an upright Jialk , a loofe fpike, and the 
outfide of the flower woolly. 
4. Achyranthes ( Lanata ) caule erecto, fpicis ovatis la- 
teralibus calycibus lanatis. Lin. Sp. Plant. 204. Achy- 
ranthes with an eredt Jlalk y and oval fpikes oj flowers 
produced from the wings of the leaves , which are covered 
with a foft down . 
The firft fort hath been long in the Englilh gardens, 
where it hath been preferved more for the fake of va- 
riety, than for its beauty or ufe. It grows near three 
feet high, with oblong pointed leaves •, the flowers 
come out in long fpikes from the extremity of the 
branches, which are compofed of an empalement, with 
a ftyle and five ftamina, but hath no petals, fo may 
be ranged under the clafs of blink flowers. The plants 
of this fort muft be raifed on a hot-bed, and when 
they have acquired ftrength, they may be tranfplanted 
into the full ground, where they will flower in July, 
and their feeds ripen in September. If thefe are kept 
in pots, and put into a warm green-houfe in winter, 
they will live two or three years, where perfons are 
inclined to keep them fo long. This fort grows na- 
turally in the iflands of America, and alfo in India 
and Sicily. 
The feeds of the fecond fort I received from Malabar, 
which have for fome years fiourifhed at Chelfea, and 
annually produced ripe feeds, which have never va- 
ried from the parent plant. 
The third and fourth forts grow naturally at the Cape 
of Good Hope, from whence I received their feeds. 
Thefe are all preferved in botanic gardens for the fake 
of variety, but have no great beauty to recommend 
them, to thofe who do not cultivate plants for the im- 
provement of that fcience. 
They may all be propagated in the fame manner as 
the firft, and will perfeft their feeds the fame year •, 
but the plants of the three laft forts may be preferved 
through the winter if placed in a ftove, for they are 
too tender to be kept in a green-houfe where there is 
not artificial heat. 
A C I N O S. See Thymus. 
A C I N U S, or A C I N I, by good authors is not ufed 
for the grape ftone, but the grape itlelf, as appears 
from the following paflage in Columella, Cum exprefl- 
feris vinacea , qua acinis celantur. It is commonly ufed 
for thofe {mall grains growing in bunches, alter the 
manner of grapes, as Liguftrum, &c. 
A C N I D A, Virginia Hemp. 
This plant grows naturally in Virginia, and in fome 
other parts of North America, but is rarely cultivated 
in Europe, except in fome few botanic gardens, for 
the fake of variety. It hath male and female flowers 
growing upon different roots, £b is near of kin to the 
Hemp, under which title it has been ranged by fome 
former botanifts. But as it is a plant of little beauty, 
and at prelent no ufe has been made of it, it is to 
little purpofe to fay more of it here. 
A C O N I T U M, Wolfsbane, or Monkfhood, [of «W, 
or Ari, a dart, becaufe the Barbarians ufed to daub 
their darts therewith •, others of sfxoveu, to accelerate, 
becaufe it haftens death]. 
The Characters are, 
T he flower hath no empalement , but conftfts of five unequal 
petals , which vary in different fpecies the galea {or hood) 
is tubulous , and covers the other parts of the flower like a 
friar s cowl % the two lateral petals , which inclofe the 
Jlantina and ftyle are equal: thefe are concave and jlightly 
indented in the middle a ‘The two lower petals are narrow 
and oblong : in the bottom of the flower are placed two, 
nediarii , upon which are fituated the ftyles in fome there 
are two , in others three , and fome have five : thefe are 
forked , and ftretch out far beyond the ftamina , which are 
numerous and irregular : after the flower is paft , the ger- 
men become oblong feed-vejfels terminated in a point , and 
■ coalefcing at their bafe-, thefe have but one cell , which is 
filled with angular rough feeds. 
This genus of plants is by Dr. Linnaeus ranged in the 
third iedtion of his thirteenth clafs, entitled .Poiyan- 
AGO 
dria trigynia, from the flowers having many ftamina, 
and three ftyles. 
The Species are, 
1. Aconitum ( Lycodlonmn ) folds palmatis mxiltifidis vil- 
lofis. Lin. Sp. Plant. 532. Yellow Wolfsbane or Monk- 
fhood , with palmated hairy leaves finely divided. Aconitum 
lycodtonum- luteum. C. B. P. 183. 
2. Aconitum (. Altiffimum ) foliis palmatis, nervofis gla- 
bris. Great eft yellow Wolfsbane, with nervous, fmooth, pal- 
mated leaves. Aconitum luteum rnajus arnpliore caule 
amplioribufque foliis. Dod. p. 441. 
3. Aconitum ( Variegatur/i ) foliis multifidis laciniis fe- 
mipartitis fuperne latis. Hort. Cliff. 214. Leffer W olfs- 
bane with blue flowers , whofe under leaves are cut into 
many parts , and whofe upper have broader fegments. Aco- 
nitum cseruleum minus, fivenapellus minor. C, B. P. 
183. 
4. Aconitum ( Author a ) floribus pentagynis foliorum 
laciniis linearibus. Lin. Sp. Plant. 532. Wholefome 
Wolfsbane with yellow flowers. Aconitum falutiferum 
five anthora. C. B. P. 184. 
5. Aconitum (. Napellus ) foliorum laciniis linearibus fu- 
perne latioribus linea exaratis. Hort. Cliff. ny.W olfs- 
bane , or Monkfhood , with large blue flowers. Aconitum 
casruleum, five napellus. 1 C. B. Pin. 183. 
6. AmoNiTUM {Pyramidale) foliis multipartitis, fpicis flo- 
rum longiffimis feflilibus. The common blue Monkfhood , 
with a long flpike of flowers. Aconitum pyramidale mul- 
tifiorum. H. R. Par. 
7. Aconitum (. Alpinum ) foliorum laciniis pinnatifidis 
fiore maxima. Large flowered Monkfhood , or W olfsbane , 
of a blue purple colour. Aconitum eaeruleo purpureum 
fiore maxima, five napellus. 4 C. B. P. 183. 
8. Aconitum (. Pyrenaicum ) foliis multipartitis laciniis li- 
nearibus incumbentibus fquamofis. Hort. Upfal. 152. 
Yellow Pyrenean Monkfhood , or Wolfsbane , with fine cut 
leaves. Aconitum Pyrenaicum luteum foliorum feg- 
rnentis fibi invicem incumbentibus. Raii Syll. 367. 
9. Aconitum ( Cammarum ) floribus fubpentagynis, fo- 
liorum laciniis cuneiformibus ineiiis acutis. Lin. Sp. 
Plant. 751. Monkfhood with flowers , having commonly five 
ftyles , and the fegments of the leaves awl-floaped. 
10. Aconitum {Orient ah') elatius, foliis palmatis fiore 
magno albo. Eaflern Monkfhood , with a tall Jialk and 
a large white flower. Aconitum lycodtonum orientale 
fiore magno albo. Tourn. Cor. 
The flxth fort is the moft common in the Englifh 
gardens •, this is cultivated for the beauty of its long 
fpike of blue flowers, which are brought to the mar- 
kets in London, towards the end of May, when it 
commonly flowers-, fo that thefe being intermixed 
with the Guelder Rofes and other flowers of the fame 
feafon, make an agreeable variety, when properly 
blended, to adorn halls and other apartments. But as 
moft of the fpecies of Monkfhood are a deadly poifon, 
not only to men but to brutes alfo, they ought not 
therefore to be admitted into places where children or 
ignorant perfons frequent, left by fmelling to thefe 
flowers, they fhouid draw fome of the farina into 
their noftrils, which may prove very hurtful to them, 
as I can from experience aflert for fadt. We have an 
account of a man who was poifonedin the year 1732, 
by eating fome of this plant, which by an unfkilful 
perfon was put into a fallad inftead of Celery. This 
is particularly mentioned in the Tranfadlions of the 
Royal Society, N° 432. Dodonasus alfo relates a ftory 
of the bad effects of one fpecies of Monkfhood, which 
was recent in his time. Some unfkilful perfons had 
gathered the young fhoots of the blue Monkfhood to 
eat in a fallad, and all that eat of them were leized 
with terrible fymptorns, and foon died. Dr. Turner 
alfo mentions, that fome Frenchmen at Antwerp eat 
the fhoots of this plant for thofe of Mafterwort, and 
all of them died in two days, except two players who 
threw them up by vomit. I have known perfons who 
by fmelling to the flowers, have been feized with 
fwooning fits, and have loft their light for two or three 
days. 
The fourth fort is that which is made ufe of in me- 
dicine, and is efteemed an antidote to thofe which -are 
C poifoiiouso 
i 
