Aconitum napellus

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Aconitum napellus

Plant in flower, Austria

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Ranunculales
Family:	Ranunculaceae
Genus:	Aconitum
Species:	A. napellus

Binomial name

Aconitum napellus
L.

Aconitum napellus (Monkshood, "aconite", "Wolf's Bane", Fuzi, and "Monk's Blood") is a species of Aconitum, native and endemic to western and central Europe.

It is a herbaceous perennial plant growing to 1 m tall, with hairless stems and leaves. The leaves are rounded, 5-10 cm diameter, palmately divided into five to seven deeply lobed segments. The flowers are dark purple to bluish-purple, narrow oblong helmet-shaped, 1-2 cm tall.

Nine subspecies are accepted by the Flora Europaea:

Aconitum napellus subsp. napellus. Southwest England.
Aconitum napellus subsp. corsicum (Gáyer) W.Seitz. Corsica.
Aconitum napellus subsp. firmum (Rchb.) Gáyer. Central and eastern Europe.
Aconitum napellus subsp. fissurae (Nyár.) W.Seitz. Balkans to southwest Russia.
Aconitum napellus subsp. hians (Rchb.) Gáyer. Central Europe.
Aconitum napellus subsp. lusitanicum Rouy. Southwest Europe.
Aconitum napellus subsp. superbum (Fritsch) W.Seitz. Western Balkans.
Aconitum napellus subsp. tauricum (Wulfen) Gáyer. Eastern Alps, southern Carpathians.
Aconitum napellus subsp. vulgare (DC.) Rouy & Foucaud. Alps, Pyrenees, northern Spain.

Plants native to Asia and North America formerly listed as A. napellus are now regarded as separate species.

[edit] Uses

Like other species in the genus, it is extremely poisonous, generating enough cardiac poison to be used to tip spears and arrows for hunting and battle in ancient times, also earning A. napellus its namesake.

Has been used ethnomedically at low dilutions in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), to treat "coldness", general debility, and "Yang deficiency",

Aconite is a medicine in homeopathy made from Aconitum napellus.