Abstract
The genus Aconitum, commonly known as the monkshood, aconite, or wolfsbane, is composed of herbaceous perennials generally recognized as the most advanced group within the Ranunculaceae (Leppik 1964). Growing 60 cm to 1.5 m tall from short tuberous roots, the plants display deep palmately dissected basal or cauline leaves. The blue to white to yellow flowers, borne on a terminal raceme, are distinguished by the large arched or hood-shaped upper sepal, hence the name monkshood (Fig. 1). The two true petals are developed into nectaries contained within the hood. Seeds are numerous, three-cornered, and dispersed from follicles. The chromosomes are large and karyotypic analysis can be made without difficulty. The chromosome number of the genus is n = 8, somatic number (2n) = 16 (Jensen 1950). Vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizae have been documented in the roots of at least two species, A. napellus and A. noveboracense (Cervelli, unpubl.).
The threatened species, Northern monkshood, Aconitum noveboracense, in the Kickapoo River Valley, Vernon County, Wisconsin, USA, August 2, 1984 (Cervelli 1985)
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© 1992 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Cervelli, R.L. (1992). Micropropagation of Monkshood (Aconitum spp.). In: Bajaj, Y.P.S. (eds) High-Tech and Micropropagation III. Biotechnology in Agriculture and Forestry, vol 19. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-07770-2_21
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-07770-2_21
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
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