Aconite flowers by Liz

Image copyright Liz Orr 2014

Pretty Aconite flowers - however they contain poison, especially the roots! It is known to be lethal for cattle and goats to eat this. It is recommended that they are grown away from kitchen herb gardens. Aconite is also used in some pharmaceuticals and homeopathic medicine.

Aconite buds by Liz

Image copyright Liz Orr 2014

Lots of gorgeous yellow buds and flowers this week! See the open Aconite flowers tomorrow!

Monkshood (Aconitum napellus) by Liz

Image Copyright 2013 Liz Orr

With its stunning violet-blue hooded flowers, this is a beautiful but very poisonous plant.  The leaves, flowers and roots are highly toxic when eaten, and it can also be harmful via the skin. This plant seems to go by a surprising number of different names.

Other common names

• Adam and Eve
• Bear's foot
• Common aconite
• Common monk's cowl
• Cupid's cap
• Dumbledore's delight
• Elijah's chariot
• Flapdock
• Friar's cap
• Garden monk's hood
• Garden wolf's bane
• Grandmother's nightcap
• Helen flower
• Helen's flower
• Helmet flower
• Monk's cap
• Monkshood
• Pops
• Soldier's cap
• Turk's cap
• Venus's chariot drawn by two doves

from the Royal Horticultural Society Website
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/plantselector/plant?plantid=4361