The treasury of botany: a popular dictionary of the vegetable kingdom; with which is incorporated a glossary of botanical terms . eply divided in a palmate manner; theflowers are placed in erect clusters, and areof a dull blue colour. The roots, or moreproperly rootstocks, are of a tapering form,of a dark brown colour externally, andwhite internally ; the younger roots, whichare placed on either side of the older one,are of a lighter colour. The taste is bitterat first, but after a time numbness andtingling of the lips and tongue are per-ceived. The root has none of the acridityor pungency tha
The treasury of botany: a popular dictionary of the vegetable kingdom; with which is incorporated a glossary of botanical terms . eply divided in a palmate manner; theflowers are placed in erect clusters, and areof a dull blue colour. The roots, or moreproperly rootstocks, are of a tapering form,of a dark brown colour externally, andwhite internally ; the younger roots, whichare placed on either side of the older one,are of a lighter colour. The taste is bitterat first, but after a time numbness andtingling of the lips and tongue are per-ceived. The root has none of the acridityor pungency that fresh horse-radish pos-sesses. The two plants are so dissimi-lar that it would seem impossible so ter-rible a mistake should be made, but it hasgenerally arisen from taking the root of the acon] &i)z Cira^uro of $j0tang. 12 aconite when the leaves and flowers, which Iare so unmistakable, have died away. Therootstock of the horse-radish is much largerthan that of the aconite, not of a taperingform, dirty yellow externally, and the topor crown marked with transverse scars, in-dicating the position of the old leaves; its. Aconitum Napellus. dour and taste are at first pungent andacrid. The venom of the aconite appearsto depend upon the presence of an alkaloidcalled Aconitina, which is so extremelypoisonous that so small a dose as one-flftieth part of a grain has wellnigh pro-duced fatal results. A tincture of aconiteroot, or a solution of the alkaloid, is occa-sionally used with much success as an ap-plication to relieve rheumatic pains, butit should be employed with the greatestcaution. Aconitum variegatum is also commonlycultivated ; it has, as its name implies,flowers variegated with white and blue. Aconitum Lycoctonum, or Wolfsbane, is acommon plant in the Alps of Switzerlandand Styria. Its leaves are palmate and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookpublisher, booksubjectbotany
