ACONFTUM ANTHO'RA. 
ANTHORA-LIKE MONK’S-IIOOD. 
Class. 
POLYANDRIA. 
Natural Order. 
RANUNCULACE^. 
Native of 
Height 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Cultivated 
Pyrenees. 
3 feet. 
1 July- 
Perennial. 
in 1596. 
No. 694. 
The derivation of the word Aconitum has been 
ascribed by various writers to different sources. 
Many agree in adducing it from Acona, a town of 
Bithynia, where some of its species are plentiful. 
It is stated by Don, in his General System of Gar- 
dening, that "'this species was formerly made use 
of in medicine, as an antidote to the poisonous 
species; whence by some writers it is called An- 
thora, or Antithora, the poisonous ones having 
been named Thora. The taste of the root is sweet, 
with a mixture of bitterness and acrimony. The 
smell is pleasant. It operates on the bowels vehe- 
mently when fresh, but loses its qualities when 
dried; it is disused in the present practice, and is 
certainly poisonous, but perhaps in a less degree 
than those of the other sections. Haller regards 
it as one of the most dangerous.” 
The greater part of the Aconites are handsome, 
upright, and rather tall plants; but they possess 
deleterious qualities of more or less virulence. 
They are readily produced from seeds, and very 
distinct varieties thus arise. Their culture is of 
the simplest kind. 
Don’s Syst. Dot. 1,55, 
Order. 
TRIGYNIA. 
