aconite

aconite

, aconitum

1. any of various N temperate plants of the ranunculaceous genus Aconitum, such as monkshood and wolfsbane, many of which are poisonous

2. the dried poisonous root of many of these plants, sometimes used as an antipyretic

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

Aconite

(pop culture)

Aconite (aconitum napellus) is another name for wolfsbane or monkshood. This poisonous plant was believed by the ancient Greeks to have arisen in the mouths of Cerberus (a three-headed dog that guards the entrance to Hades) while under the influence of Hecate, the goddess of magic and the underworld. It later was noted as one of the ingredients of the ointment that witches put on their body in order to fly off to their sabbats. In Dracula (Spanish, 1931), aconite was substituted for garlic as the primary plant used to repel the vampire.

Sources:

Emboden, William A. Bizarre Plants: Magical, Monstrous, Mythical. New York: Macmillan Publishing, 1974. 214 pp.

The Vampire Book, Second Edition © 2011 Visible Ink Press®. All rights reserved.

aconite

[′ak·ə‚nīt]

(botany)

Any plant of the genus Aconitum. Also known as friar's cowl; monkshood; mousebane; wolfsbane.

(pharmacology)

A toxic drug obtained from the dried tuberous root of Aconitum napellus; the principal alkaloid is aconitine.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Aconite

 

(Aconitum), monkshood, a genus of perennial herbaceous plants of the family Ranunculaceae. Roots are tuberous and thickened; leaves palmate-incised or palmate-compound; flowers yellow, blue, or violet, rarely white, arranged in a more or less thick apical raceme. The calyx consists of five petaloid colored bracts. The upper bract resembles a helmet covering two nectaries (modified petals). About 300 species grow in the northern hemisphere, about 75 of these in the USSR. Most of the aconite species are poisonous; they contain alkaloids such as aconitine and zongorine. Many aconite species are cultivated as ornamentals.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.