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Show 46 The It isa poifonous plant. ‘BRAT 1S 8’ Dodonsus gives an account of five perfons who eat the root of it, through a miftake, in their food at Antwerp, and all died. ‘There have been other inftances ofthe fame kind ; andit is faid to deftroy fuch wild beafts as tafte or eat it. There is a tradition, how true we knownot, that wolves tear up the root of fomeplants in winter for their food, and ot larS| Pe) | fometimes miftaking this, perifh byits poifon: hence it has obtained the name of wolf/bane. It is faid, that, when kept in gardens, it is lefs fatal than wild; which is probable: all plants haying their faculties, of whatever kind, more ftrong in their wild ftate than when brought into culture. 2. Great purple Monks-Hood. Aconitum purpureum maximum. The root is long, large, and furnifhed with abundance offibres. The firft leaves are large, broad, and divided into a few great fegments. The ftalk rifes to five feet in height, and is robutt. firm, and verylittle branched. The leaves ftand alternately, andare like thofe from the root: they are divided down to the footftalk, into five Principal parts, the middle ons of which is largeft, They are ofa pale green, and deeply ferrated. The flowers ftand in long {pikes at the tops of the branches; and are very large, and of a beautiful deep purple: but they vary in this refpect, being fometimes red or fleth coloured. The feed-veffels follow as in the other fpecies, but the numberis not certain ; ufually there are three, fometimes four. It is common in the mountains of Germany, and flowers in Auguft J. Bauhine calls it Aconitum Jycoftonum flore 0. C. Bauhine, Aconitum czeruleo purpureo flore maximo, five Napellus quartus. 3. Yellow Monks-Hood. Aconitum flore luteo. The root is compofed of a multitude of thick entangled fibres, The firft leaves are large, broad, and in a manner rounded in their general form, but divided deeply. into about five parts. The ftalk is robuft, firm, ereét, and four feet high. The leaves ftand irregularly on it, and have long footftalks : they are like thofe from the root, divided deeply into. five parts; and thofe are tharp at the points, and ferrated at the edges. The flowers, are fmaller than thofe of the common monks-hood, and ofa. beautiful yellow. The feeds follow. in.capfules, three after every flower. It is a, native of many parts of Europe, and flowers. in, July. The flowers are fometimes of a deep yellow, fometimes ftraw-coloured, or whitith. C. Bahinecalls it Aconitum lycaftonum luteum, J. Bauhine, Aconitum. falio: platani. flore lutea pallefcente, H ERB A L. ite BART Al Sue or ah eRe Ba Anis 4. Little, blue, lowered Monks-Hood. Aconitum ce The root is compofed ofa vaft number of fibres interwoven with one another. The firft leaves ftand on longfootftalks ; and are broad, and indenteddeeply, rather than di vided into fegments. The ftalk is Mender, purplith, and about two feet and a half high, but not veryfirmly erect. The leaves ftand irregularly on it: they are fupported on footftalks, and are divided fomewhat deeperthan thofe from the root, but not fo deeply as in moft of the other fpecies: the divifion is into three principal parts, fometimes into five; and thefe are cut deeply at the edges. The flowers are large, and of a deepandbeau- tiful blue: they ftand in a particular manner, not in long fpikes, as thofe of the others, but fingly at the tops of flenderftalks rifing from the main ftem. It is a native of Italy, and flowers in May: C. Bauhine calls it Aconitum ceruleun minus, Jive Napellus minor. Dodonzus, Aconitum parvum caeruleum. All thefe fpecies partake of the poifonous nature ofthe firft kind; but there is one refembling them in form, and ofthe fame genus that is falutary, andis efteemed an antidote in particular againft their poifon. 5. Wholefome Monks-Hood, Anihora. The rootis compofed of many irregular, thick, and tuberous pieces, Thefirft leaves are fupported’ on long footF ftalks, and are divided to the bottom into five fegments: thefe are broad, and notched at the edges. Gioek WINTER they are of a pale green on the upper-fide, and whitifly underneath. ‘The flowers ftand. at the tops of the ftalks and branches, and:are like of the other monks-bood in form; of a: beautiful yellow colour, and of a plea~ fant, though flight {mell. The. feeds follow in capfules, three, four, or five aftereach flower: The number of thefeis uncertain, but, five is the moft common, It is a native of Germany, and flowers in June. C. Bauhine calls it Aconitum Salutiferum, five Anthora. XIV. WOLFSBANE; HEflower ftands in the centre of the leaf, and has né other cup; it is compofed of fix petals: the feeds are contained in capfulés, in an uncertain number, properly fix, but more frequently only four or five, after every fower. No plant has been called by fo many naines, or referred to fo many different genera, as this; aad all improperly. The error has been in the authors not perceiving that ic was 4 plant fiz generis, and belonged to none. Linneus places it among his polyandria polygynia, making it a fpecies of hellebore: but it has fix petals to the flower ; whereas the hellebores have but five. This is a very eflential diftinétion. C. Bauhine calls it an aconite ; but the aconites have only five petals in the flower, and thofe dif- pofed in a particular manner: whereas in this there are fix; and they are equal, and ftand reguarly. J: Bauhine makes it a ranunculus, forgetting that the ranunculi have naked feeds, andthis plant apfules. By fome it is called bulbus unifolius; a very uncertain name, and alfo improper; the root being not bulbotis, but ttiberous: and by others it is called an elleborine; 2 genus from which it differs in form and chara¢ters more thanfromall. In this uncertainty and ty of a name, I have given it a new one, diftin& as the plant it- all th er genéta: this is cammarum, from an old Greek word xappago, ufed by Diofcorides and others as a diftinction to fome of their aconites ; though, from their fhortnefs, it is not eafy to fay which. In Diofcorides it feems to mean the fame with his pardaliancbes , but in others it rather appears to point at this plant; which there is alfo reafon to believe is the real and proper aconite of Theophraftus, and the earlier Greeks. I have however prefetved its common inglifh name. Wefee, though commionly called by the name of wolfPane, it is a plant altog*ther different from that genus, and properly conftitutes one of its own; I have therefore called it by anew one. But as the plant is fo perfectly known by its old Englith name, and by the Latin one, of which that is 4 tranflation, aconitum hyemale, and is one which, from its power of doing harm, fhould not be rendered liable to be miftaken, great danger, as well as the lofs of great good, being neceffarily to be guardedagainft in the confideration of changing of names, I have preferved its common withits new. one; and wifh, in cafes of this kind, the fame pratice may be followed by others. Of this fingular genus there is but one known fpecies, which is very commonin our gardens. Winter Wolffbane. The flower grows in the centre of the leaf, Comoran. andis large and yellow. It confifts of fix pe- tals, with a great tuft of threads in the middle, The root is thick, tuberous, and large; black on the outfide, white within, and of a violently acrid and burning tafte. It has a few fibres ; and, whenit has ftood fome time on the ground, has other tuberous pieces growing fromit. ? Fhe leaf and plant are one thing, for there is and among them the rudiments of feveral capfules. When the flower falls, thefe ripen, and contain feveral yellowifh, rounded, and flat feéds. It is a native of Germany, and flowers in the depth of winter. no’ otherftalk. Manyfootftalks rife from different parts of the root, cach of which has at its top one leaf. The footftalk. is inferted at the centre ; andthe leafis of a rounded figure, but very deeply divided into narrow fegments. The root is a violent cathartick in a very {mall dofe, and in any thing a larger quantity it is to be eonfidered as a fatal poifon, Others, Anthora, and 4; ithora. Bo Therootis kept in the druggitts fhops, and was once muchufed as a cordial and fudorifick ; there have been. miftakes. aboun the kind,, and they, have been, fatal, When freth dried, this root. purges vehemently ; but that quality goes off in Keeping, This is not particular to this plant: but it is a very fufficient reafon why it never fhould be ufed; becaufeit will be impoffible for the phyfician who prefcribes it to know its ftrength, Uses CAMMARUM. Theleaves onit ftand irregularly, and are di- vided into numerous, narrow, plain fegments : Nig Ne US Pulao NY. P@ONtTA es are divided into’ many parts. The flowers’aré' large, and confift of five petals: they roots na five-leaved cup, and are fuccééded by large capfules, two-after every ower: tuberous: The Linnzus places this among his polyandria digynia, there being numerous filaments, and the rudiments of the two capfules in the centre’ of évery flower. In this, however, he acknowledges there ig no certainty; for, inftead of two, thefe rudiments are in fome fpecies three, four, or fivé, to each flower. |
