ACONITE, WOLFSBANE, or Monkshood; a genus of the trigynia order, belonging to the polyandria class of plants. In the natural order, it associates with the Multiflora, 26. The characters are: There is no calyx. The corolla consists of five unequal petals opposite in pairs; the highest helmet-tubed, inverted, and obtuse; the two lateral ones, broad, roundish, opposite, and converging; the two lowest, oblong, and looking downwards. The nectaria are two, piped, nodding, and sitting on long subulate peduncles, and concealed under the highest petal. The scales are six, very short, coloured, and in an orb with the nectaria. The filaments consist of numerous small subulate filaments; the anthers are erect and small. The pistillum has three [five] oblong germs, ending in styli the length of the filaments; the stigmata are simple and reflected. The pericarpium has three or five univalve capsules gaping inward. The seeds are numerous, angular, and wrinkled.

Species. 1. The lycoctonum, or yellow wolfsbane, grows upwards of three feet high, flowers about the middle of June, and if the season is not warm will continue in flower till August. 2. The altissimum, or greatest yellow wolfsbane, grows upwards of four feet high, and the spikes of its flower are much longer in this sort than the former. 3. The variegatum, or lesser wolfsbane, seldom grows more than two feet high; it carries blue flowers, and the spikes of them are much shorter than either of the two last. 4. The anthora, or wholesome wolfsbane, flowers in the middle of August, and often continues in beauty till the middle of September; its flowers are not large, but are of a beautiful sulphur-yellow colour. 5. The napellus, bears large blue flowers, which appear in August, and make a pretty appearance. There are two or three varieties of this kind; one with white, another with rose-coloured, and a third with variegated flowers; but these are only varieties which often change. 6. The pyramidalis, or common blue monkshood, bears a long spike of blue flowers, which appear sooner than any of the other sorts, being so early as June, or sometimes even May. The spikes of flowers are upwards of two feet long, so that it makes a pretty appearance; the seeds are ripe in September. 7. The alpinum, or large-flowered monkshood, flowers in August, and will grow to the height of five feet in good ground; the flowers are very large, of a deep blue colour, but not many upon each spike. 8. The pyreniacum, or Pyrenean monkshood, flowers in July. It grows about four feet high, and carries a long spike of yellow flowers. 9. The campanarii, grows about four feet high, and flowers in the beginning of July. 10. The orientalis, or eastern monkshood, grows sometimes more than five feet high, and bears a white flower.

Culture. All these species, except the last, are natives of the Alps, the mountains of Germany, Austria, and Tartary; so require a cool shady situation, except the wholesome wolfsbane, which must have an open exposure. They thrive better in a moist than dry soil: but the ground must not be so wet as to have the water standing near their roots in the winter-time. They may all be propagated by sowing their seeds in autumn, upon a north border, where they are screened from the sun. The plants will come up in the spring, when they must be kept clean from weeds during the summer-months; and, in very dry seasons, if they are frequently refreshed with water, their growth will be greatly promoted. The following autumn they should be transplanted into shady borders, in rows a foot apart, and the plants six inches distant from one another. In this situation they may remain two years, when they will carry flowers, and so may be transplanted to those places where they are to remain. The eastern monkshood is a native of the Levant, from whence the seeds of it were first sent by Dr Tournefort to the royal garden at Paris, from whence some other gardens have been furnished with seeds. It is very rare in Europe at present.

Qualities. Since the time of Theophrastus, most of the species of monkshood have been reckoned a deadly poison both to men and brutes. Dioscorides, however, recommends the external application of common monkshood for pains of the eyes. The flowers of a great many species communicate their noxious quality by being smelled to; and those of the species called napellus being placed on the head, occasion a violent miasm. Of the bad qualities of these plants we sometimes avail ourselves to get rid of vermin. A decoction of the roots destroyed bugs; the same part being powdered, and administered in bread or some other palatable vehicle to rats and mice, corrodes and inflames their intestines, and soon proves mortal. The juice of the plant is used to poison flesh with, for the destruction of wolves, foxes, and other ravenous beasts. The best antidote to the poison of the different monkshoods is said to be the root of the anthora, a species of the same genus, hence termed healthful or wholesome monkshood. The same plant is regarded as efficacious against bites of serpents and other venomous creatures. The roots have a bitter acrid taste; the leaves are only bitter; the former are chiefly used in medicine; and, besides the excellent quality just mentioned, are stomachic, and promote perspiration. The peasants, who gather the plants on the Alps and Pyrenees, are said to use it with success against the biting of mad dogs, and to cure the colic. It is remarkable, that the monkshoods with blue flowers are much more virulent than the yellow or white-flowered kinds. Miller affirms that the huntmen of the wolves and other wild beasts on the Alps, dip their arrows into the juice of those plants, which renders the wounds made by them deadly.

That the anthora is an antidote to the poison of the rest of the species, is not considered as a fact sufficiently established. Of the effects of the above, indeed, and other vegetable poisons, medical writers give but a confused account. In general, those which are not of the narcotic kind, nor excite violent vomitings and purgings, produce their pernicious effects by irritating the nervous coats of the stomach and intestines, so as to occasion violent convulsions, not only in them, but through the whole body. The proper cure is evacuation by vomit; but this is not to be obtained without some difficulty; because there is usually such a contraction about the upper orifice of the stomach, that nothing thing can either be swallowed or thrown up. In this case, an infusion of tobacco has been recommended, and may probably be of service: for being itself of a very stimulating nature, it may for a moment take off the violent spasms occasioned by the poison; in which case, a violent vomiting will immediately ensue.—The stomach being thoroughly emptied, and deglutition rendered easy, the cure may be completed by oily and mucilaginous medicines. On account of the poisonous qualities of monkshood, no species of it should be planted where children have access, lest they should suffer by putting the leaves or flowers in their mouths, or rubbing them about their eyes; for the juice of the leaves will occasion great disorder by being only rubbed upon very tender flesh; and the farina of the flowers, when blown into the eyes, causes them to swell greatly.