Aconite is also supposed to have been the poison that formed the cup which Medea prepared for Theseus. It was said to be the invention of Hecate from the foam of Cerberus, and it was a species of Aconite that entered into the poison which the old men of the island of Ceos were condemned to drink when they became infirm and no longer of use to the State. Some species of Aconite were well known to the ancients as deadly poisons. These herbaceous perennial plants are chiefly natives of the mountainous parts of the northern hemisphere, growing in moisture retentive but well draining soils on mountain meadows. The most common plant in this genus, Aconitum napellus (the common Monkshood) was considered to be of therapeutic and of toxicological importance. It belongs to the Aconitum genus of flowering plant belonging to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). Monkshood – Aconitum napellus, Wolfsbane – Aconitum lycoctonum and other speciesĪconite is a powerful plant, used in the past as a medicinal herb, a poison and in potions for incantations. If you would like to read Laura’s first article on the medicinal properties of Mandrake please click here. I hope that we hear more from Laura on this topic area, and submissions from readers would be very welcome as we build up slowly to the 2011 Runciman Lecture which I believe will be on the subject of Byzantine medicine. This article helps us further understand how the ancients, and in particular the Byzantines, used medicinal herbs as medicine and in this case as poisons. I am very pleased to be able to bring you a further piece by Laura Diaz-Arnesto, from Uruguay (I have forgiven her and her nation for the huge error of her compatriot linesman in the England v Germany World Cup match 🙂 ).

Wolfsbane uses