''Aconitum firmum'' (

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

: ''tojad mocny'',

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

: ''oměj tuhý'', Ukrainian: Аконіт міцний,

Romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

: Akonіt mіtzniy) is a species of

monkshood ''Aconitum'' (), also known as aconite, monkshood, wolfsbane, leopard's bane, devil's helmet, or blue rocket, is a genus of over 250 species of flowering plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae. These herbaceous perennial plants are chiefl ...

that is found in Southern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

, and Czechia, with a few instances in Ukraine and Romania.

Appearance

''Aconitum firmum'' has indigo flowers that are about 2 centimeters big, and can grow up to around 40 centimeters tall.

Toxicity

Like all monkshoods, ''Aconitum firmum'' is highly poisonous. All parts of the plant, with the highest concentration being in the roots and seeds, contain

aconitine Aconitine is an alkaloid toxin produced by various plant species belonging to the genus ''Aconitum'' (family Ranunculaceae), commonly known by the names wolfsbane and monkshood. Aconitine is notorious for its toxic properties. Structure and rea ...

, which is a potent nerve poison.

Conservation

In Poland, ''Aconitum firmum'' is a protected species, along with all other monkshood species in Poland. The subspecies ''A. firmum'' subsp. ''moravicum'' is recognized as Near Threatened by the IUCN Red List, although ''A. firmum'' itself has not been evaluated by the IUCN.

Taxonomy

Name

''Aconitum firmum'' was named by

Ludwig Reichenbach Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach (8 January 1793 – 17 March 1879) was a German botanist, ornithologist and illustrator. It was he who first requested Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, Leopold Blaschka to make a set of glass marine invertebrate m ...

. The species name ''firmum'' comes from the

inflection In linguistic Morphology (linguistics), morphology, inflection (less commonly, inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical category, grammatical categories such as grammatical tense, ...

of the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word ''firmus'', meaning stable and firm. The Czech, Polish, and Ukrainian common names reflect on this and can be literally translated to "strong aconite".

Subspecies

''Aconitum firmum'' is divided into 6 subspecies and 1 variety which are: * ''Aconitum firmum'' subsp. ''bucovinense'' (Zapal.) Aschers. & Graebn. * ''Aconitum firmum'' subsp. ''firmum'' * ''Aconitum firmum'' subsp. ''maninense'' (Skalický) Starm. * ''Aconitum firmum'' subsp. ''moravicum'' V.Skalick * ''Aconitum firmum'' subsp. ''paxii'' Starm. * ''Aconitum firmum'' subsp. ''zapalowiczii'' Starm. * ''Aconitum firmum'' var. ''portae-ferratae'' Starm. & Mitka

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3390128

firmum Fermo (; ancient: Firmum Picenum) is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo. Fermo is on a hill, the Sabulo, elevation , on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway. History The oldest human ...

Taxa named by Ludwig Reichenbach