Aconitum uncinatum Linnaeus. Common name: Eastern Blue Monkshood, Appalachian Blue Monkshood. Phenology: Aug-Oct. Habitat: Seepages, saturated swamps, cove forests, other moist forests. Distribution: C. MD and sw. PA south to e. VA, e. NC, wc. GA, and c. TN; disjunct in sc. MO (Yatskievych 2013).
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Taxonomy Comments: Two varieties or subspecies are sometimes recognized, but the character differences seem ambiguous, poorly correlated with one another, and geographically incoherent. A third eastern blue-flowered entity has been variously treated as an additional subspecies or variety of A. uncinatum, as a separate species, A. noveboracense A. Gray, or as disjunct populations of the otherwise more western A. columbianum Nuttall.
Synonymy ⓘ: = FNA3, Il, NE, Pa, POWO, RAB, S, S13, Tn, Va, W; > Aconitum uncinatum L. ssp. muticum (DC.) Hardin — K4, NS, Hardin (1964b); > Aconitum uncinatum L. ssp. uncinatum — K4, NS, Hardin (1964b); > Aconitum uncinatum L. var. acutidens Fernald — F; > Aconitum uncinatum L. var. muticum DC. — C; > Aconitum uncinatum L. var. uncinatum — C, F. Basionym: Aconitum uncinatum L. 1762
Links to other floras: = Aconitum uncinatum - FNA3
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Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FAC
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FAC
- Midwest: FAC
- Northcentral & Northeast: FAC
Heliophily ⓘ: 4
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© Alan Cressler: Aconitum uncinatum, Brasstown Valley Seeps, Towns County, Georgia 1 by Alan Cressler source | Original Image ⭷
© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
© Edwin Bridges | Original Image ⭷
© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
© Richard & Teresa Ware CC-BY-NC, permission granted to NCBG | Original Image ⭷
© Gary P. Fleming | Original Image ⭷
© Radford, Ahles and Bell | Original Image ⭷Feedback
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Erect to sprawling perennial growing in seepages, moist meadows, cove forests and other moist forests.
Stems: Stems arising from tuber-like root, slender and weak (often leaning on other plants), branching, smooth to minutely hairy.
Leaves: Leaves alternate, petiolate, about 4 in. long (and wide), palmately and deeply divided into 3-5 coarsely toothed segments.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers in loose panicles from upper leaf axils and stem ends, blue to purple, 1-2 in. long, bilaterally symmetric, consisting of 5 petal-like sepals, the uppermost one shaped like a hood or helmet, that enclose 2 smaller blue petals.
Fruits: Fruit a beaked, ellipsoid follicle.
Comments: All parts of this plant are toxic, and a drug derived from it has been used to treat neuralgia and sciatica.
Height: 2-5 ft.
plant sale text:
bloom table text:
description: Erect to sprawling perennial growing in seepages, moist meadows, cove forests and other moist forests.
stems: Stems arising from tuber-like root, slender and weak (often leaning on other plants), branching, smooth to minutely hairy.
leaves: Leaves alternate, petiolate, about 4 in. long (and wide), palmately and deeply divided into 3-5 coarsely toothed segments.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers in loose panicles from upper leaf axils and stem ends, blue to purple, 1-2 in. long, bilaterally symmetric, consisting of 5 petal-like sepals, the uppermost one shaped like a hood or helmet, that enclose 2 smaller blue petals.
fruits: Fruit a beaked, ellipsoid follicle.
comments: All parts of this plant are toxic, and a drug derived from it has been used to treat neuralgia and sciatica.
cultural notes:
germination code:
native range: southeastern United States
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