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Korean Monk’shood

Aconitum coreanum

Korean Monk’shood
Photo: IloveU4ever, CC BY-SA 3.0

Korean monkshood is a perennial herb with thickened roots, native to mountain valleys and slopes in Korea, China, Mongolia and the Russian Far East. It grows best in cool, moist loam in partial shade.

Family
Ranunculaceae (Buttercup family)
Grows as
Bulb
Light
Part shade, Shade
Water
Keep soil evenly moist, especially in the growing season.
Soil
Moist, humus-rich loam that holds some moisture.
Temperature
Hardy in cool temperate climates; tolerates cold winters, avoid hot dry conditions.
How easy
Moderate
Safety
Toxic: The whole plant, especially the roots, is poisonous. Poisoning can cause vomiting, numbness, heart rhythm problems and can be fatal.
Native range
Mongolia to S. Russian Far East and N. & C. Korea
Climate
temperate

About

Aconitum coreanum, known as Korean monkshood, is one of the species of Aconitum. It is one of the crude botanical drugs that has been applied in Chinese medicine during past decades.

Safety

Marked symptoms may appear almost immediately, usually not later than one hour, and "with large doses death is almost instantaneous." Death usually occurs within two to six hours in fatal poisoning (20 to 40 mL of tincture may prove fatal). The initial signs are gastrointestinal including nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. This is followed by a sensation of burning, tingling, and numbness in the mouth and face, and of burning in the abdomen. In severe poisonings pronounced motor weakness occurs and cutaneous sensations of tingling and numbness spread to the limbs. Cardiovascular features include hypotension, sinus bradycardia, and ventricular arrhythmias. Other features may include sweating, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, headache, and confusion. The main causes of death are ventricular arrhythmias and asystole, paralysis of the heart or of the respiratory center. The only post-mortem signs are those of asphyxia.

Treatment of poisoning is mainly supportive. All patients require close monitoring of blood pressure and cardiac rhythm.

Where it grows

Aconitum coreanum is a perennial shrub with thickened roots growing to 100 centimetres (39 in) in height. It prefers a soil slightly retentive of moisture, such as a moist loam. The shade side of mountain valleys is preferred. Its stems are glabrous and strict. The plant is simple or branched with the leaves crowded. These leaves are alternate and palmately cleft 3-5 and long-petioled and upper leaves shorter almost sessile. Proximal cauline leaves are withered at anthesis. Its leaver are deeply divided again to lanceolate and sharply acuminate. The roots are poisonous. The flower's color is pale yellow or sometimes purplish tint. The flowers bloom from July to August. Its pedicels are short and has 5 petal-like sepals; the upper one clearly hooded, the others flat, the lower 2 narrower than the others. The entire plant is 30 centimetres (12 in) -100 centimetres (39 in) in height.

Other Aconitum plants

Carmichael's monkshood · Indian aconite · Aconitum henryi · Monk's-hood · Monkshood

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Aconitum coreanum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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