Aconite-FOR ERASMUS+PROJECT
Collaborative dictionary of mythological plants
FUNDED BY EUROPEAN UNION
TARGET GROUP NUMBER:12
Scientific name: Aconite
Vulgar name
Spanish: Aconito
Basque: Akonitoa
Italian: Aconito
Greek:
Morphological description
The dark green leaves of Aconitum species lack stipules. They are palmate or deeply palmately lobed with 5–7 segments. Each segment again is 3-lobed with coarse sharp teeth. The leaves have a spiral (alternate) arrangement.
The tall, erect stem is crowned by racemes of large blue, purple, white, yellow or pink zygomorphic flowers with numerous stamens. They are distinguishable by having one of the five petaloid sepals (the posterior one), called the galea, in the form of a cylindrical helmet; hence the English name monkshood.
There are 2–10 petals. The two upper petals are large and are placed under the hood of the calyx and are supported on long stalks. They have a hollow spur at their apex, containing the nectar. The other petals are small and scale-like or non-forming. The 3–5 carpels are partially fused at the base.
Uses, threats and singularity
USES
The roots of Aconitum ferox supply the Nepalese poison called bikh, bish, or nabee. It contains large quantities of the alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a deadly poison. Aconitum palmatum yields another of the bikh poisons. The root of Aconitum luridum, of the Himalaya, is said to be as poisonous as that of A. ferox or A. napellus.
Several species of Aconitum have been used as arrow poisons. The Minaro in Ladakh use A. napellus on their arrows to hunt ibex, while the Ainu in Japan used a species of Aconitum to hunt bear.The Chinese also used Aconitum poisons both for hunting and for warfare. Aconitum poisons were used by the Aleuts of Alaska's Aleutian Islands for hunting whales. Usually, one man in a kayak armed with a poison-tipped lance would hunt the whale, paralyzing it with the poison and causing it to drown.
THREATS
Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour, and "with large doses death is almost instantaneous." Death usually occurs within two to six hours in fatal poisoning (20 to 40 mL of tincture may prove fatal). The initial signs are gastrointestinal including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is followed by a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth and face, and of burning in the abdomen. In severe poisonings pronounced motor weakness occurs and cutaneous sensations of tingling and numbness spread to the limbs.Cardiovascular features include hypotension, sinus bradycardia, and ventricular arrhythmias. Other features may include sweating, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, headache, and confusion. The main causes of death are ventricular arrhythmias and asystole, paralysis of the heart or of the respiratory center.The only post-mortem signs are those of asphixya.
SINGULARITY
MEDICAL USE:
Aconite has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine and Ayurveda (Hindu traditional medicine). Aconite was also described in Greek and Roman medicine byTheophrastus, Dioscorides, and Pliny the Elder, who most likely prescribed the Alpine species Aconitum lycoctonum.
Beside the opportunity to make man invisible, this magical grass also had other properties: it is said that putting some aconite flowers under the pillow, intelligence and wisdom of these ones who had the opportunity to sleep on it got more intelliget and wiser.
In the Middle Ages, wizards and witches used it for their acts of witchcraft: wizard used to put it on their neck the skin of a shake in which they introduced the roots of aconite to get invisible.
In ancient times, the aconite was one of the most used plants to poisoning the arrows before the battles, and it was used to kill the enemies. In 500 , they believed that the power of its poison was stronger than scorpions one. Because of its toxicity, in the past there were some cases of poisoning. This plant is dangerous because it looks like some edible plants, and because of the anicotine, that is in its leaves, too.