16 
INDIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS. 
The uppermost leaves are more simple than the lower, and 
gradually pass into the bracts of the beautiful raceme of dull blue 
helmet-shaped flowers which crown the stem. The taste of the 
leaves is at first mawkish, but afterwards persistently burning. 
The taste of the fresh root has a sharp odour of radish which 
disappears in drying. Its taste which is at first sweetish soon 
becomes alarmingly acrid, accompanied with a sensation of 
tingling and numbness. (Fliick. and Hanb.). Flowers f-lin., 
long. “ Bright or dull greenish blue” (Hk. f., and Thoms.). 
Sepals 5, petaloid, posterior (helmet) vaulted, the rest flat. 
Petals 2-5, two posterior clawed ; limb hooded and enclosed in 
the helmet. Helmet shallow, tapering to a slender beak, 3 times 
as long as high. Racemes : — Simple, few— or many-flowered, or 
sparingly compound. Bracts entire or trifid. Stamens many. 
Follicles 3-5 in. in Indian forms ; hairy, sessile. Seeds many. 
Testa smooth. This is a very variable plant. 
“ Recent investigations into the Chemistry of the Indian 
Aconites, and my own examination of a great mass of herbarium 
material, many times richer than that which was at the disposal 
of the authors of the Flora Indica, as well as histological studies 
concerning the root-tubers of the Indian Aconites, have con- 
vinced me that the European Aconitum Napellus does not occur 
in India, either in its typical form or what we might be justified 
in calling varieties of it.” (Annals of the Royal Botanic Garden, 
Calcutta, Vol X, p. 121. ‘ The Aconites of India ’ by Ur Otto 
Stapf). 
Part used : — The root. 
Use : — Its febrifuge and tonic properties are mentioned in all 
works on Materia Medica. 
16 . A. heterophylhim. Wall. h.f.br.i., i . 29 . 
Syn. : — A. cordatum, Royie. 
Sanskrit : — Sanskrit writers describe two varieties of this 
root : — (1) white and (2) black. The synonyms of the white 
variety are : — Ativisha (very poisonous) ; Sukla Kanda (white 
root); Visha (poisonous); Prativisha (Counter-poison or anti- 
dote). The Synonyms of the second variety are : — Shyama 
