Aconitum lycocionum or Wolfsbane (Image by Google)
"Even a man who is pure in heart and says his prayers by night,
may become a wolf when the Wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright"
The Wolfman, 1941
may become a wolf when the Wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright"
The Wolfman, 1941
I first heard about Wolfsbane and its relation to werewolves in the 1941 movie The Wolfman, with Lon Chaney Jr. but, as far as I understood, it was just a part of the werewolf-lore.
I did a little digging and found that this beautiful plant, also called Lamarck’s Wolfsbane, Northern Wolfsbane, Yellow Wolfsbane, Yellow Monkshoo, is a very poisonous one, often used in the past as a way of killing wolves through arrowheads dipped in a liquid prepared of the herb. In fact, it seems to be so poisonous that it can kill a person just by absorption through the skin (in a cut or something like that or if rubbed in sensitive areas) and some people reported they felt unwell after just smelling the plant. Accidental ingestion is fatal, but very rare, since it has a very unpleasant taste.
Those poor wolves didn't stand a chance!
I did a little digging and found that this beautiful plant, also called Lamarck’s Wolfsbane, Northern Wolfsbane, Yellow Wolfsbane, Yellow Monkshoo, is a very poisonous one, often used in the past as a way of killing wolves through arrowheads dipped in a liquid prepared of the herb. In fact, it seems to be so poisonous that it can kill a person just by absorption through the skin (in a cut or something like that or if rubbed in sensitive areas) and some people reported they felt unwell after just smelling the plant. Accidental ingestion is fatal, but very rare, since it has a very unpleasant taste.
Those poor wolves didn't stand a chance!
~Ally
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