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Photo copyright Henriette Kress, http://www.ibiblio.org/herbmed |
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Vergil's aconitum is a poisonous plant he had never seen. Rembert Dodoens (Rembertus Dodonaeus, 1518-1585) identified aconitum with Doronicum pardalianches or D. austriacum (English doronic, or Leopard's bane), and has been followed by Abbe 1965, Maggiiuli 1995, and others. Although the descriptions of Theophrastus (9.16.4) and Dioscorides (4.77) generally match up, the species Doronicum is not poisonous, and Riddle 1985, 110 (following Schneider 1968-75, 5: pt. 2, 35 and Behrendes 1902, 412), rightly identify Vergil's aconitum with wolfsbane.
What Dioscorides called "the other aconite" (4.78) is another contender. This is the better-known Eng. monkshood, beloved of mystery novelists and distinguished by its purple flowers:
| L | aconitum Flora Eur. 210 |
E | monkshood | S | Aconitum napellus L. |
| G | Blauer Eisenhut | F | aconit napel | I | aconito napello, anapello |
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