Habit: Perennial herb from rhizome or tuber; roots fibrous or fleshy.
Stem: 1--few, generally erect, generally simple.
Leaf: palmately divided; segments 3--7, toothed to lobed; cauline gradually reduced distally on stem.
Inflorescence: raceme or panicle, terminal, bracted; pedicels ascending.
Flower: bilateral; sepals 5, petal-like, lower 2, < others, pendent, lateral 2, round-reniform, upper 1 > others, hooded, sac-like, crescent-shaped to rounded-conic or cylindric, tip generally rounded to beaked; petals 2, covered by sepal hood, long-clawed, blades generally inflated, spurred; stamens 20--50; pistils generally 3.
Fruit: follicle.
Seed: deltoid, generally with small transverse wings, dark brown to black.
Species In Genus: > 100 species: boreal arctic, temperate montane to alpine North America, Eurasia.
Etymology: (Greek: aconiton, of unknown origin).
Toxicity: Most species highly TOXIC, causing death in livestock, humans.
Jepson eFlora Author: Petra Foerster
Reference: Brink & Woods 1997 FNANM 3:191--195
Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)
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