ACONFTUM OVATUM. 
OVAL-LEAVED ACONITE. 
Class. Order. 
rOLYANDRIA. - TRIGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
RANUNCULACE^. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration, 
Introduced 
Cashmere 
2| feet. 
August. 
Perennial. 
in 1839. 
No. 870. 
Named, by the ancients, after a town of Asia. 
Old botanists tell us of instances of death oc- 
curring from the inadvertent use of Aconite roots ; 
and the ancient Greek writers speak of it as a 
most virulent poison ; even smelling the flower is 
said to have produced serious illness. It is not 
clearly shown what plant was alluded to, by the 
ancients, under this name ; sufficient has, however, 
transpired within our own memory, to convince us 
of the poisonous qualities of the Aconitum napellus. 
The novel species of Aconitum which we now 
figure, was introduced into this country by the 
Honourable Court of Directors of the East India 
Company, from Cashmere. It is, perhaps, the 
most curious of the whole genus, but certainly not 
the handsomest. As well as curious in its flowers, 
its foliage is remarkable, being neither palmately 
nor pinnately divided, but entire. In which res- 
pect, like the Rosa berberifolia, it differs from all 
others of its own extensive genus. 
The plant appears to be perfectly hardy, it 
grows freely in any common earth. It may be 
divided at the root, or propagated by seeds. 
