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10. Aconitum Linnaeus, Sp. Pl.  1: 532.  1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 236; 1754. 
乌头属 wu tou shu 
 
Li Liangqian; Yuichi Kadota
 
 
 
 
Herbs perennial or pseudoannual, rarely annual, with taproots or 2 to several caudices. Stem erect or twining. Leaves simple or compound, cauline ones alternate, sometimes all basal, palmately divided, rarely undivided. Inflorescence usually racemose. Pedicel with 2 bracteoles. Flowers bisexual, zygomorphic. Sepals 5, petaloid, purple, blue, or yellow; lower sepals 2, narrowly lanceolate or oblong, small; lateral sepals 2, suborbicular; upper sepal falcate, navicular, galeate to cylindric. Petals 2, clawed; limb usually with lip and spur, secretory tissue usually at limb apex, rarely abaxial. Staminodes usually absent. Stamens numerous; anthers ellipsoid-globose. Carpels 3--5(--13); style short, persistent. 
 
 
 
 
About 400 species: temperate regions of the N hemisphere; 211 species (166 endemic) in China. 
 
 
 
 
                        
                         
		
                          
                          
			
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                                  Key 6 
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  | 1 | 
  Stem erect, usually robust; cauline leaves ternate, deeply dissected into fine ultimate lobules. | 
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  (2) | 
 
  | + | 
  Stem ascending, slender; cauline leaves deeply 3-lobed, ultimate lobules lanceolate to broadly lanceolate. | 
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  (3) | 
 
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  | 2 (1) | 
  Inflorescence rachis and pedicels glabrous | 
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  194 A. soongoricum | 
 
  | + | 
  Inflorescence rachis and pedicels appressed pubescent | 
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  196 A. karakolicum | 
 
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  | 3 (1) | 
  Inflorescence rachis and pedicels sparsely appressed pubescent | 
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  197 A. talassicum var. villosulum | 
 
  | + | 
  Inflorescence rachis and pedicels spreading pubescent | 
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  198 A. nemorum | 
 
 
 
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                                List of Keys
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                          List of lower taxa 
 
                        
                          
                        
	
                        
                      
 
                      
	 
                      
                         
		
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