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General:
Perennial herb from a tuberous root; stems erect, stout, hollow, 20-200 cm tall, smooth to slightly crisp-hairy below, spreading-hairy above and glandular, particularly in inflorescence.
Leaves:
Mostly stem leaves, alternate, long-stalked below, unstalked above, deeply palmately 3- to 5- (7-) lobed, 5-15 cm wide, the segment margins variously cleft and toothed.
Flowers:
Inflorescence a terminal, open raceme, the flowers bilaterally symmetric, usually blue, sometimes white or cream-coloured or blue-tinged at sepal margins, 18-50 mm long from tips of lower sepals to top of hood; flower stalks slender, ascending; petals 2, distinct, concealed in hood, long-clawed, spurred at apex; sepals 5, petal-like, usually hairy and often somewhat glandular, the lower 2 lance-shaped, flat, 6-16 mm long, the lateral 2 round kidney-shaped, the upper sepal (the hood) sac-like, arched, conic-hemispheric to crescent-shaped, beaked, 11-34 mm long from receptacle to top of hood, 6-26 mm wide from receptacle to beak tip; pistils 3 (-5).
Fruits:
Follicles, 3 (-5), 10-20 mm long, smooth to sparsely hairy, seeds about 3.5 mm long, longitudinally winged, with many transverse, membranous baffles.
Notes:
Most species of Aconitum are highly toxic, causing death in livestock and humans. However, A. columbianum does not seem to be that toxic (Whittemore and Parfitt 1997).
Source: The Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
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