The helmet-shaped inky-blue flowers give this hardy herbaceous perennial a slightly sinister appearance appropriate to its properties. It has tuberous roots and delphinium-like foliage from which the flowering stems rise to a height of 1.5 m (5 ft).
History and traditions
The generic name is from the Greek for a dart (akontion) in recognition of its one time use as an arrow poison, but the species name, napellus, meaning “little turnip”, is supposedly for the shape of the roots, and gives no hint of the deadly nature of this plant. The popular name, monkshood, describes the curious shape of the flowers, while the common name for A. lycoctonum, wolf’s bane, is a reference to its ability to dispatch this once much-feared animal by sprinkling the juice over raw meat as bait. Stories of the dangers of aconite abound in herbals through the ages, such as Gerard’s account of the “ignorant persons” of Antwerp who were taken with “most cruel symptoms and so died” when served the leaves in a salad as a “lamentable experiment”.
Related species
There are about 100 species, all of which are highly poisonous. A. lycoctonum has yellow, sometimes purple, flowers and A. carmichaelii, syn. A. fischeri, is sometimes used in Chinese medicine as a painkiller.
Uses
Medicinal
The alkaloid, aconite, gives it toxicity. As a strong sedative and painkiller, it should be used only by qualified practitioners. A very small dose causes numbness of lips, tongue and extremities and can lead to vomiting, coma and death.
