Aconite

ak'o-nit, a plant of the buttercup or crowfoot family. Aconite is commonly known as monkshood and as wolfsbane. There are over twenty species, several of which grow wild in the United States. The flowers of the several species differ in color, being variously violet, yellow, and even white. The common monkshood is blue. One of the five sepals is shaped like a helmet or hood. The common aconite has roots somewhat like those of the horseradish. The leaves and roots yield a deadly poison which destroys the functions of the nervous system and produces palsy of the muscles. It acts powerfully on the heart, ultimately paralyzing it. A tincture of aconite root is made to allay neuralgic pain by producing temporary numbness. The assassins of India dipped their arrows in a preparation made from an aconite found in the Himalayas. See Poison; Medicine; Buttercup