Monkshood (Aconitum napellus – purple & Aconitum lycoctonum – yellow)
Flowers: June to September. Height: Up to 100cm (40in).
Also known as Aconite, Devil’s Helmet and Queen of Poisons, Monkshood refers to the shape of its flower, which resembles a hood worn by medieval monks. Its flowers were worn by early Christian hermits as protection from insects and small animals due to their strong odour. Purple Monkshood was introduced to Britain, from continental Europe, during the 1500s, probably as a medicinal plant. William Turner, who has been called “The father of English botany”, referred to it as Wolfsbane in his book The Names of Herbes (1548) due to its use by shepherds who would mix the ground root with meat as bait for wolves to protect their livestock. Indeed Aconitum napellus has a long history of use as a poison and was used on spears and arrows for hunting and battle for thousands of years. ‘Bane of my life’ now means something very irritating or annoying, but the word actually derives from the Old English bana, meaning ‘thing causing death’. Nicholas Culpeper described just two sorts of wolfsbane, the yellow and the blue. He stated that “The monkshood or blue wolfsbane is very common in many gardens. The other is rarely found but in the gardens of some curious herbarists…“.
Medicinal: Despite its highly toxic nature it was used medicinally in the 1600’s to treat conditions including gout, rheumatism and neuralgia. Internally, it could be prescribed to soothe coughs, sore throat and toothache, and to reduce fever.
Magic & Myth: Said to have sprouted from the spittle of the hell hound Cerberus which Hercules brought out from the underworld, Monkshood is surrounded by mythology and associated with murder and poisonings. Pliny the Elder (23-79AD) named it ‘woman’s murder’ and during the Middle Ages it was associated with witchcraft.
