| Where the garden meets the wild | ||
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ACONITUM MONKSHOOD, ACONITE, WOLFBANE Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family) |
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Aconitum japonicum rises to bloom on an elegant, zigzag stem in early autumn. Photograph © Pat Woodward |
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Monkshoods are notoriously variable. China alone has more than 200 apecies. North America has 5. The hooded, bisexual flowers of Aconitum, usually blue or purple, are carried in racemes at the top of the stem and in the upper leaf axils. Many species are tuberous and produce daughter tubers every year. Some species twine and climb. Usually they are tall enough for the middle or back of a garden bed. These plants prefer seeps, trickles and damp meadows in full sun or part shade. Typically they bloom in July, August or September. The flowers are fertilized by bumblebees, which clamber over the stamens and pistil to dart their long tongues into nectaries high up under the hood. Like all members of the Buttercup family, Aconitum contains toxic alkaloids. Don't eat it or feed it to animals. |
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Photograph © Sandra Bray |
Aconitum columbianum Nuttall. Western monkshood. Our plants
have flowers that are smoky blue. They do not produce bulbils. This
species is native to much of western N America, from SW British Columbia
to NW Mexico, with a few outlying populations between Iowa and New York
state. Mature plants usually produce one daughter tuber each year. Our
seeds were collected in the Cascade Range, in Oregon. Height 20-90 cm
(8-35"). Zone 5.
Pot (10 cm / 4"). In Canada C$8.00; elsewhere US$7.25. |
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Scan of flower head © Paige Woodward
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Aconitum columbianum subsp. viviparum (Greene) Brink.
Howell's monkshood. This subspecies is most easily distinguished by
the bulbils it produces in its leaf axils. It is native to two small
mountainous areas: one from the Klamath Range of N. California to the
Cascade Range in N. Oregon, the other just south of Lake Tahoe in
California. Our seed was collected in Oregon on Steens Mountain, in the
Klamaths. Flowers on our plants are mauvish blue and white. The plants
have a stiff central stem and side branches that cling and climb somewhat like
clematis. Mature plants usually produce one daughter tuber each year.
Height 20-90 cm (8-35"). Zone 5. Not available this season. |
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Aconitum japonicum
Thunberg.
Pot (10 cm / 4"). In Canada C$8.00; elsewhere US$7.25. |
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| This page was updated Sept. 4, 2006 | ||
