Aconitum chinense
| Aconitum carmichaelii | |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| Order: | Ranunculales |
| Family: | Ranunculaceae |
| Genus: | Aconitum |
| Species: | A. carmichaelii |
| Binomial name | |
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Aconitum carmichaelii Debeaux |
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Aconitum carmichaelii syn. A. fischeri, is a species of flowering plant of the genus Aconitum, family Ranunculaceae. It is native to East Asia and eastern Russia. It is commonly known as Chinese aconite, Carmichael's monkshood or Chinese wolfsbane (Chinese: 烏頭附子; pinyin: Wu-tou Fu-zi) (Japanese: 鳥兜 or トリカブト, Torikabuto). It is known in Mandarin as Fu Zi (meaning daughter root, or lateral root) and as Wu Tou (meaning tuberous mother root, or root tuber).
Growing to 1.2 metres (4 ft) tall by 30 centimetres (12 in) wide, it is an erect perennial, with 3- to 5-lobed ovate, leathery leaves. Dense panicles of blue flowers are produced in late summer and autumn.
It is valued as a garden plant, and numerous cultivars have been developed, of which 'Arendsii' and 'Kelmscott' (Wilsonii Group) have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
All parts of this plant are extremely toxic, and it has historically been used as a poison on arrows. If not prepared properly by a trained person, Aconitum can be deadly when taken internally.
Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour, and "with large doses death is almost instantaneous." Death usually occurs within two to six hours in fatal poisoning (20 to 40 mL of tincture may prove fatal). The initial signs are gastrointestinal including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is followed by a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth and face, and of burning in the abdomen. In severe poisonings pronounced motor weakness occurs and cutaneous sensations of tingling and numbness spread to the limbs. Cardiovascular features include hypotension, sinus bradycardia, and ventricular arrhythmias. Other features may include sweating, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, headache, and confusion. The main causes of death are ventricular arrhythmias and asystole, paralysis of the heart or of the respiratory center. The only post-mortem signs are those of asphyxia.
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Wikipedia