Monks Hood... (Aconitum)

I can understand now why its called 'monks hood'....I never knew that, we learn something new every day is a true saying (sounded a bit like my mother there lol)...brilliant flower and colour Lori...:>)

arent' they pretty? and they are plenty tough too... can you see the ice crystals on the sepals? it is minus 2 celsius...(and that's the daytime high!)
brrrr... winter is coming too quickly.

Great pic.

Beautiful close up.....

Lori, that is a lovely photo......

Great close-up.

Amazing colour Lori. Great close-up! I got accused of being a witch because I had it in a previous garden! LOL! Does your one 'spit' the seeds out if you touch it?

beautiful colour!!

Lovely blue colour.

thanks folks! this plant is a strange one! it's about 5-1/2 ft tall...has only 4 shoots...each with multiple axial flower buds...and it's blooming now...instead of July!! I can't explain why... LOL...I don't know Madperth...must take a close look. .Hocus Pocus! I like the unique flowers and the deep green leaves....I know it's highly poisonous but I don't do anything with it...other than appreciate how pretty it is! I'd just wink at the accuser...and invite them in for tea....(Probably wouldn't see them for dust! )

LOL! Thats what I did, & asked if bat-wing tea was ok!!
Mine would spit the seeds at you if you touched the flowers! Just think, all those poor little bees getting shot!
Its so beautiful. I'm going to get some for here!

Bat wing tea ....is that a new variety of tea? Would the advert go................ Go bats for batwing tea, have a sip and wait and see, will you change into a frog, or grow hair just like a dog? LOL

Brilliant, Linda! Love it!!
Nah, just wanted to give him a 'fleg' (fright) he was such a prat!
But it'd be worth designing a box with that on it & showing him, lol!

A lovely close-up. I loved finding these on the rare occasion after frost up here. I'll have to collect some for the garden. We have a wild variety that I didn't get out and pic, I'm regretting it. I love the witch story, this is famous in witch history for about 1000 yrs! Of course for being poisonous. Interestingly, the next cultivator was the christian monk.

Just don't put my name on the box Madperth......I've just bought some chocolate eyeballs for a friend of mine whose seventh birthday is coming up before the end of this month.

No, I wont put your name on it! Lol!
Monks, Greenthumb? Didn't realise that!

not sure what, if any, modern medical uses there are for this plant...but you are right about it's antiquity, Gt. also called Wolf's Bane...it's been used to poison for millenia , but there are many plants in the pharmacopia which are as dangerous if handled or used. The connection of witches with this herb came from the middle ages when it was mixed with bella donna into an ointment that was used on the witches' bodies for flying! LOL... it has been used as a medicinal herb but is no longer included in the British or American Pharmacopoeia...but is used in some Chinese medicines because it slows the heart and decreases blood pressure, it reduces inflammation and induces sweating when ingested in infinitessimally small quantities and it can numb the skin but the therapeutic dose is too close to toxicity it's just not worth the risk. It's not a common favourite in ornamental gardens because it is susceptible to crown rot, powdery mildew, mosaic, cyclamen mite, and verticillium wilt..(according to my herbal) and... keep the kids away from it!

Oh, great stuff Lori! The flying ointment has loads of poisonous things in it. I've a recipe, probably send anyone at minimum into a fever. Most 'witches' were herbologists, midwifes and naturalists 'removed from society' to broaden the control of the church which in turn developed the medicinal gardens of the monks were the pharmacopia traditions were continued.

Amazing! I was just 'talking' with Healerwitch on the same subject!
(cut & paste!) My great gran was the local 'witch' (in Wales) & unfortunately looked like the one in my Hansel & Gretel book, so I wouldnt go near her!:~(
I really wish now I'd got to know her & learn from her!
Unfortunately her nnotebooks were destroyed after her death.

Just as an afterthought to Healerwitch: her notes may be gone...but does her garden still exist?
It is interesting that Aconite is included in most herbals as a constituent of a "Medicinal"(traditionally kidney shaped and walled) herbal garden! Had it not been for the "church" most of those women burned as witches would have been called "mother", "wise woman" or "apothecary" and I agree with Healerwitch it's altogether sad to lose the knowledge of past generations. it takes us a very long time to "re-discover" some very practical and effective methods of using plants to cure, soothe or protect ourselves. The mention in my herbal of the Chinese use of a herb which is eschewed in other pharmacopoeia is interesting as well... there are some Chinese remedies which can be downright harmful to some, but they are still used (check out Kombucha).

Sorry Lori, that was me with the witchy granny!
It is sad to lose the knowledge, I agree.
Oops! No, the house & garden were demolished in the name of 'progress'!! :~((
I know that a herbalist cured me of a condition in the space of a month that mainstream medicine had failed to sort out in 6 years!
I'm also aware that so many healing plants can be dangerous, so would always go to the experts!

So much is forgotten or mislaid or subverted...but we are part of this web of life here on this little rock and it's often been said that everything we need is here...(the Eden idea) Sorry I misunderstood about your gran... apologies to Healerwitch too! As to experts...you can get misinfo there too...it's important to stress that great care should be taken when handling processing or administering herbs. And your six year search illustrates the truth ...no one person, doctrine, practice...etc. holds all the answers. So glad that you found yours!

No worries, Lori!
Yes we do kind of have to 'shop around' as it were! It certainl helped a lot when I finally found something that worked for that problem, now if I could just get the rest of me sorted out........LOL!
Yes, I've had some bad experiences too, when some treatments made stuff worse instead of better, but more with mainstream medication than 'alternative' or 'complementary'!