Poisonous plants - Aconitum carmichaelii

Aconitum talk – poisonous plants, January 2019

Jennifer Wright

In October last year I was asked to do a talk to a group of horticulturists about anything I wanted to, as long as it focused on a plant. It’s a golden opportunity to give a presentation about the topic of your choice. As it was the weekend before Halloween, naturally I chose the Aconitum or Monkshood. Below is a transcript of the notes I wrote for the talk. It should all be in the right order so hopefully you can follow: 

Chosen plant of choice: Aconitum carmichaelii ‘The Grim Reaper’ 

Where is it and how did I come across it: This monkshood is in the walled garden at The Garden House, Devon. I noticed it one day while I was dead heading Dahlias and decided to check it out properly. 

Parentage/Provenance: I couldn’t find the exact parentage of ‘The Grim Reaper’ but carmichaelii is native to central and west China. 

Common names: This plant has so many common names, it made me feel dizzy: Chinese monkshood, wolfsbane, Carmichael’s monkshood, old wife’s hood, tiger’s bane, dog’s bane, mouse bane (supposedly by its ability to kill a mouse from its smell) and devil’s helmet. 

Family: Ranunculaceae

 

Description: This is a highly toxic herbaceous perennial with dark green leathery leaves, panicles of violet blue flowers and an upright habit. It can grow up to 1.5 metres tall but the one at the Garden House was at around 50cm this year, possibly due to the Beast from the East. 

Cultivation: Likes full sun or partial shade in a sheltered position. Loam to clay soil and preferably acid to neutral. Always use gloves when handling this plant. 

Propagation: Divide in the autumn or spring. Plants can sometimes be slow to re-establish. 

General information:

Aconitum napellus is the European species and is the true Monkshood species.

Aconitum lycoctonum is actually wolsbane and is also native to Europe.

Incidently, this is the plant that Severus Snape uses to brew a potion for Remus Lupin to help him prevent his werewolf transformation in the Harry Potter series.

All Aconitum species are poisonous to humans. 

Poisons: The distinct taste of Aconitum means that accidental poisonings are rare. It is described as very bitter followed by a burning sensation then complete numbness of the mouth. Ingestion and skin absorption are the main concerns for Aconitum with gardeners. 

Symptoms: tingling sensation and then numbness of the mouth, stomach pain, muscular paralysis, heart arrhythmia and then eventual death. 

Chemical composition: Aconitum has 3 main organic alkaloid compounds and the combination results in death. Aconitine – This is responsible for heart arrhythmia. Atisine – numbness, tingling and muscular effects. Veatchine – acts as a starting compound for the others. 

Poisoning incidents: I am going to talk about 3 incidents of Aconite poisoning but there are a lot to sift through online and historical records. Both deliberate and accidental. The 1^st serves as a reminder that misidentification of plants can be fatal. 

1.      On July 30^th 2004, Canadian actor Andre Noble ate Aconitum, thinking it was wild parsnip, while hiking. He died hours later.

2.      Curry Killer! January 2009 was a jealousy driven murder. Lakhvir Singh poisoned her lover Lakhvinder Cheema and his fiance by adding an Aconite based herbal remedy to leftover curry in their fridge, made from Indian Monkshood. The man died hours later and his fiancé survived.

3.      Medical murders! Dr. George Henry Lamson poisoned his brother in law Percy Malcolm John in 1881. He had slowly been poisoning him for a while in the newly developed soluble capsules which he had access to as a doctor under the pretence for treating him for other ailments. This wasn’t fast enough, he brought his brother in law a cake laced with Aconite when he visited his home. He was convicted on murder and hanged.  

History, uses and mythology:

Aconitum has several possible name meanings or origins.

1.      Could come from the Akon which is an ancient Greek word for dart or arrow, referring to the plants use.

2.      According to Theophrastus (ancient Greek plant biologist, pupil of Plato and successor of Aristotle) the name comes from the village of Akonai which was land occupied by the Mariandynoi people. The village doesn’t exist today, area in Turkey. The modern nearby village has a cave which is said to house the entrance to the underworld which was guarded by Cerberus, the great 3-headed hound of Hades. His task was to prevent the dead from leaving and the living form sneaking in. Interestingly, in other Greek mythological stories Hekate, goddess of witchcraft, transformed the foam from Cerberus’s mouth into Aconitums when Hercules dragged Cerberus from the Underworld as his 12^th test. 

If there is one thing I have learnt while researching for this is that people really like to poison pointy things.

A lycoctonum: ancient Greeks used it to poison arrow heads to shoot wolves.

A napellus: used by the Aboriginal people of the Kamchatka peninsula in the North Pacific Ocean. Poison harpoons for whaling, each harpoon had a signature. More whales meant that they were more successful. The dead where rendered down and body fat was sued to apply the Aconite to harpoon heads as a symbolic skill passed on.

A carmichaelii: used by Ancient Chinese to poison arrows so that when injured soldiers pulled out an arrow they would die anyway from poisoning. 

Recent History: Nazi scientists began experimenting with poisoning bullets towards the end of World War 2.

In medieval times, there was a herbal potion called the Witches Flying ointment. It included henbane, monkshood, foxglove and deadly nightshade. Weirdly enough, atropine (nightshade) and digitoxin (foxgloves) act as antidotes for aconitum poisoning in the right doses.

 Some modern-day wiccans believe that Aconitum can be used to enhance spells for invisibility and protection from evil.

I hope you all enjoyed this post. I am sorry that there isn’t a picture to put up with this post but as it is January Aconitum is in short supply until the spring.

Winter Colour in the Garden.

Winter Colour - January 2019

Jennifer Wright

Chionodoxa species in the Bulb Meadow @TGardenHouse

 

It’s been a while since I have posted up on my blog, I should hopefully be posting more regularly again now that spring is around the corner. It feels like ages ago now but HAPPY NEW YEAR. I can’t believe that January is almost over already and spring is around the corner. That pasted super quick. My colleagues often tell me, the older you get the faster time flies. I hope it doesn’t go too quick this year as it promises to be a good one. It shouldn’t really be a surprise to you that I don’t like winter all that much like many, many people. December is a good month though. You have Christmas and New Year to look forward to and Christmas planning takes a good chunk of my time up. Though after the new year, January and February begin to drag and go on and on until I am so fed up. Then it’s suddenly spring and the world bursts into life. 

However, since it is winter, I have decided to do a post about winter colour in the garden. Before I started studying horticulture I was like most people. Winter was all about the cold, the wet and the grey but as I have been working in gardens for 4 winters now, I have started to see the beauty in the cold and the wet and the grey. Simply because it isn’t so dreary if you open your eyes. So many plants are flowering or have colourful bark that draws you in. When trees drop their leaves, you can see them in their full architectural glory and it’s as exciting as summer. If any of you reading this are gardeners, horticulturists or in a land-based industry then I know I am preaching to the choir. There are so many plants looking great in the garden now whether its flowers, bark, leaves or shape. Below is a list of a few which if you don’t know then you should definitely become acquainted with: 

·      Eranthis hyemalis or Winter Aconite – This plant has yellow low-growing flowers which are produced from a very small tuber between January and February. Worth taking a look at if you are looking for a plant to naturalise into woodland. I have often seen this plant used in a scheme with dwarf daffodils and snowdrops naturalised in colourful winter displays. 

·      Helleborus hybrids or Christmas Roses and Lenton Roses – This flowering perennial produces flowers throughout winter and into early spring in varying shades of colours from white and pale yellows all the way through to dark purples and pinks. A wide range or cultivars are available to suit everyone’s tastes. 

Purple Helleborus hybrid

White double-flowered Helleborus hybrid

·      Hesperantha coccinea or Crimson flag lily – Hesperantha is a great addition to any garden with its crimson flowers that appear from autumn until early winter. This plant flowers a little earlier than the others on this list but it is such as good plant that I couldn’t miss it out. In especially mild winters or in warmer parts of Britain such as South West England the flag lily may continue to flower sporadically through January and February. 

·      Skimmia japonica or Japanese Skimmia – It’s not the flowers that made this plant make the list, the berries of Skimmia come in all sizes and colours. Skimmia are an evergreen bush that produce berries from autumn that hold all through the Winter. Be careful though, there are separate male and female plants of Skimmia so in order for your female plants to produce berries there must be a male plant nearby. 

·      Daphne bholua or Nepalese paper plant – This Daphne produces pink flowers from early winter through to the end but it isn’t the colour that I love but the smell. Daphne’s flowers produce a strong sweet scent which is most noticeable on sunny cold days with a slight breeze. It hits you like explosion of scent that can sometimes be overwhelming but I often find myself searching around for the source to stick my nose in for a good whiff. 

·      Camellia cultivars or, err well…, Camellias – I am of the strong opinion that there is a camellia for everyone. This genus of plants is wide and varied, many flowering from winter into late spring with shades from white through to pink, with or without scent. My personal favourite at the moment is Camellia sasanqua ‘Pinafore Pink’, this may change as the season progresses though. Camellias are great plants in pots or in borders. I hasten to add however, that Camellias are acid loving plants so prefer ericaceous soil (fancy name for soil with a pH below 7). Pots are a fantastic way to grow the plants you love without having to lower the pH of your main borders. This way you can grow a large range of plants with less effort.

·      Erica carnea or Winter flowering heathers – Continuing on with the theme of ericaceous plants. The winter flowering heathers are usually in the Erica genus although there are also other genera of heathers which flower throughout summer such as Calluna and Daboecia. Heathers are low growing evergreen shrubs which are often used in winter garden schemes with conifers and snowdrops. Flower colour spans through from white to pink and on to vibrant purples. 

·      Galanthus species and cultivars or Snowdrops – I could write a whole separate post about snowdrops and in fact, I probably will. These tiny bulbs are beloved throughout the world and flower from autumn through to early spring. There are so many cultivars of snowdrops which are variants on each other that I couldn’t even begin to count them all. I do know a few though ‘Grumpy’, ‘Wendy’s Gold’ and reginae-olgae are some great choices for anyone looking for unusual snowdrops. 

One of many Galanthus cultivars @TGardenHouse

·      Rubus thibetanus or Ghost Bramble – This plant is vicious with its barbed white stems and can sometimes be invasive. On the other hand, if you have a large amount of space to fill which is low maintenance then this is the plant for you. All you need to do it cut it down to the ground every year in the early spring or every second year whatever works best for you. This plant is deciduous so loses its leaves in winter but the stem colour on snowy days is so worth being a human pin cushion when pruning. 

·      Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ or Black Grass – Black grass is actually a grass at all but in the Asparagaceae family meaning it is related to the Asparagus that appears on our plates in the summer. You can’t eat this one though as its dark purple berries produced after flowering will give you a stomach upset. This Ophiopogon is an evergreen perennial plant, the leaves on this cultivar are a dark purple almost black. A great addition to any shady garden. 

I have decided that in this next part I would like to talk about 3 different plants which all have their own unique qualities that make them an excellent choice for any winter garden. Hopefully I will keep on track and not waffle on too much but I am going to share with you why I love these plants so much. 

Cyclamen coum

Cyclamen coum growing in a slate wall.

Genus: Cyclamen coum

Family: Primulaceae

Common name: Eastern Cyclamen

Growing conditions and why to grow it: Cyclamen coum is an excellent choice for a low growing ground cover plant as it spreads rapidly in the right conditions. I have often found the leaves, although all a similar shape, can vary in size and can sometimes have a silver lining across the top surface. The flowers are pink with a purple base where it attaches to the flower stem and appear from early winter into spring. Cyclamen coum prefers a sheltered position in partial shade. It grows best in a fertile and well-drained soil. What’s better is that this plant will come back year after year and hopefully spread through a border.

Interesting facts: The name Cyclamen comes from the Greek Kyklaminos which refers to a circle. This alludes to the coiling stem on the seed vessel. Coum refers to the island Kos off the coast of Turkey which is part of the plant’s native range. 

Cornus ‘Anny’s Winter Orange’ 

 

Cornus 'Anny's Winter Orange pictured with Skimmia.

Genus: Cornus

Family: Cornaceae

Common name: Dogwood

Growing conditions and why to grow it: There are so many impressive dogwoods it was hard to choose but this is my personal favourite. Although, ‘Midwinter Fire’ and ‘Kesselringii’ are up there with the best too. ‘Anny’s Winter Orange’ has orange through to red stems that draw your eye like fire in the winter months. In the picture above, it has been paired with Skimmia japonica ‘Scarlet Dwarf’ so that the reds pick each other up. This Cornus doesn’t really mind where it is put just preferring sun or partial shade. It really is an all-rounder.

Interesting facts: This dogwood can be cut down each spring before the leaves appear to replenish the winter stem colour each season but can also be left to grown taller and cut down every 3-4 years. Like many plants, this plant can be propagated by hardwood cuttings. Cuttings taken in the winter when the stem is bare. 

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Jelena’

 

Hamamelis cultivar, probably 'Jelena'

Genus: Hamamelis

Family: Hamamelidaceae

Common name: Witch Hazel

Growing conditions and why to grow it: This plant is a little pickier than the other two liking well-drained to moist soil, in full sun or partial shade in acidic to neutral soil. Easy requirements to fill if you work down in Devon like I do. This is a medium to large deciduous shrub which produces hundreds of subtly scented orangey to red flowers from January to February.

Interesting facts: Hamamelis virginiana is a relative of my chosen plant. This witch hazel has bark and leaves which are often used in the production of cosmetics. It is sold as a treatment for acne, skin irritation, inflammation, an anti-bacterial facial and protection against skin damage. 

Here are a few book choices which have helped me in the past: 

·       The Hillier Gardener’s Guides, The Winter Garden by Jane Sterndale-Bennett

·       RHS companion guide to scented plants by Stephen Lacey

·       The Winter Garden by Val Bourne

·       Colour in the Winter Garden by Graham Thomas

·       Winter Gardens: Reinventing the season by Cedric Pollet  

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post, I certainly had fun writing it. Until next time!

Jen 

Some extras which didn’t make the list above:

·       Some Hydrangea flower heads stay on the shrubs over winter.

·       Many flowering perennial plants which flower in summer have seed heads which will last throughout winter until cut down.

·       Miscanthus among many other grasses turn varying shades of brown over the winter providing architectural interest.

·       Conifers are old but gold when it comes to winter schemes – yellow or blue cultivars give a pop of colour on dreary days.

·       Winter bulbs such as crocus, Chionodoxa and daffodils work well together to plant the under story of borders.

·       Berries are important for the ecosystem and many plants produce spectacular versions of their own which hold their own against some of the showier flowers such as hollies, sacred bamboo and rowan.

Clematis 'Winter Beauty' grown against a wall @TGardenHouse

References:

·       Plant Names Simplified – Johnson and Smith

·       RHS Practical Latin for gardener’s – James Armitage

·       Royal Horticultural Society website