Flower of the Week / 今週のお花

Monkshood 

Monkshood, also known as Wolfsbane, Leopard's Bane, Women's Bane, Devil's Helmet or Blue Rocket, Aconitum is a genus  of flowering plant  belonging to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). These species are natives of mountainous regions throughout the northern hemisphere and are members of the Buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. They have held important status as medicinal plants among some early peoples but, most famously, the sap of Aconitum has been used as an arrow poison by early hunters. There are over 250 species of Aconitum.

The roots of Aconitum ferox supply the Nepalese poison called bikh, bish, or nabee. It contains large quantities of the alkaloid pseudaconitine, which is a deadly poison. Aconitum palmatum yields another of the bikh poisons. The root of Aconitum luridum, of the Himalaya, is said to be as poisonous as that of A. ferox or A. napellus.
 

Several species of Aconitum have been used as arrow poisons. The Minaro in Ladakh use A. napellus on their arrows to hunt ibex, while the Ainu  in Japan used a species of Aconitum to hunt bear. The Chinese also used Aconitum poisons both for hunting and for warfare.
 

The most common plant in this genus, Aconitum napellus (the Common Monkshood) was considered in the past to be of therapeutic and of toxicological importance. Its roots have occasionally been mistaken for horseradish. When touched to one's lip, the juice of the aconite root produces a feeling of numbness and tingling. This plant is used as a food plant by some Lepidoptera  species including Dot Moth, The Engrailed, Mouse Moth, Wormwood Pug, and Yellow-tail.

Floriography - Beware, A Deadly Foe is Near, 

トリカブト

トリカブト（鳥兜・学名Aconitum）は、キンポウゲ科トリカブト属の総称。日本には約30種自生している。 花の色は紫色の他、白、黄色、ピンク色など。多くは多年草である。沢筋などの比較的湿気の多い場所を好む。

塊根を乾したものは漢方薬や毒として用いられ、附子（生薬名は「ぶし」、毒に使うときは「ぶす」）または烏頭（うず）と呼ばれる）。ドクゼリ、ドクウツギと並んで日本三大有毒植物の一つとされる[1]。

トリカブトの名の由来は、花が古来の衣装である鳥兜・烏帽子に似ているからとも、鶏の鶏冠（とさか）に似ているからとも言われる。英名は「僧侶のフード（かぶりもの）」の意。

花言葉 - 美しい輝き, 厭世家, 人嫌い, 復讐, 騎士道, 栄光