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''Aconitum'' (),〔''Sunset Western Garden Book,'' 1995:606–607〕 also known as aconite, monkshood, wolf's bane, leopard's bane, mousebane, women's bane, devil's helmet, Queen of all Poisons, or blue rocket, is a genus of over 250 species of flowering plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae. These herbaceous perennial plants are chiefly native to the mountainous parts of the northern hemisphere, growing in the moisture-retentive but well-draining soils of mountain meadows. Most species are extremely poisonous〔Hay, R. (Consultant Editor) second edition 1978. ''Reader's Digest Encyclopedia of Garden Plants and Flowers.'' The Reader's Digest Association Limited.〕 and must be dealt with carefully. The name comes from the Greek , which may derive from the Greek akon for dart or javelin, the tips of which were poisoned with the substance, or from akonae, because of the rocky ground on which the plant was thought to grow.〔http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/aconite.html〕 The name may reflect that toxins extracted from the plant were historically used to kill wolves, hence the name ''wolf's bane''.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=A Modern Herbal | Aconite Herb )〕 In ''Metamorphoses'', Ovid tells how the herb comes from the slavering mouth of Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of Hell.〔Ovid, ''Metamorphoses'' (7.406 ff. ). The story is first attested by Euphorion of Chalcis, fragment 41 Lightfoot (Lightfoot, (pp. 272–275 )).〕 As the veterinary historian John Blaisdell has noted, symptoms of aconite poisoning in humans bear some passing similarity to those of rabies: frothy saliva, impaired vision, vertigo, and finally a coma. Thus, it is possible that some ancient Greeks would have believed that this poison, mythically born of Cerberus's lips, was literally the same as that to be found inside the mouth of a rabid dog.〔Rabid: a Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus by Bill Wasik〕 ==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 lower leaves have long petioles. 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. The fruit is an aggregate of follicles, a follicle being a dry many-seeded structure. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aconitum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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