(larkspurleaf monkshood)
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Photo of Aconitum delphinifolium by Adolph Murie
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Aconitum delphinifolium is flexuous herb with distinctive deep-purple hooded flowers and deeply
lobed leaves, common throughout Denali in lush sites from shady woods into alpine meadows. Plants grow 20-50 cm tall from a corm-like
rhizome. Leaves are alternate, gracefully
palmately lobed and deeply cleft into narrow segments, round in outline. The upper stem leaves are two-
lobed or
linear. Stems are green,
glabrous and
flexuose. Monkshood
inflorescences have 1-5 flowers in an open
raceme. The
bilaterally symmetric flowers are deep purple to lilac, strongly veined, with five petal-like
sepals and two distinctive petals hidden within. The uppermost
sepal is helmet-like, sitting over the upper edges of two wide, vertically aligned
sepals, the last two petals
ovate, flat. The petals are long-clawed, beaked at the apex, paler purple. Each flower produces 3 (sometimes 5 or more)
follicles, 1.5-2 cm long, which contain many black seeds. Plants could potentially be confused with larkspur (
Delphinium species), which also have deeply
lobed leaves and
bilaterally symmetric blue-purple flowers. However, the flowers of larkspur have an elongate spur in the back, not a hoodlike flower.
This species is perennial, flowering in mid-summer and fruiting in mid-late August.
A. delphinifolium flowers are bisexual and bee pollinated. The breeding system of this species has not been studied. Each flower produces 3 (sometimes 5 or more)
follicles, which contain many black seeds, dispersed by gravity and wind.
Monkshood is an amphi-Beringian endemic species that occurs in Alaska, Northwest Territory, Yukon, the northern half of BC, western Alberta and across the Bering Strait in Eurasia. The species occurs throughout Alaska. Aconitum delphinifolium occurs widely across the full extent of Denali, and is especially common in subalpine areas on both sides of the AK Range, and in meadows along rivers in the boreal zone.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right, depicting recent Denali data.
The abundance of monkshood in Denali peaks at 900-1100 meters, though it occurs at all elevations (a range of 90-1572 m). This species is slightly more common on southern aspects. Additionally, its frequency of occurrence increases with increasing slope, and the average site is at a 13 degree incline.
Details are shown in the Plots & Charts found at right. For more on how to interpret these figures, visit Understanding Data Presented.
Moist sites.