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"As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."
Professor Severus Snape during Harry Potter's first Potions class[src]

Aconite[4] (also known as monkshood or wolfsbane)[1][5] was a mundane plant with magical properties.[1]

Description[]

Its flowers were useful in Potion-making,[1] but its leaves were very toxic.[3] The root of aconite could be used as a potion ingredient.[6] Aconite was most commonly known as an ingredient of Wolfsbane Potion,[6] but it was also an ingredient in Wideye Potion.[2]

History[]

"Put your gloves on, because today we're tending Aconite. Aconite is useful in many potions, but it's very toxic. Poisoning will result in a failing grade and a visit to the Hospital Wing. Before we begin, I will demonstrate proper safety precautions."
— Professor Sprout to fifth year Herbology students[src]

The Sunrise Early Edition of The New York Ghost published on 30 May 1927 had an article located on page 11, column 4 about Wolfsane seeds found in No-Maj nursery.[7]

Aconite lesson HM530

Jacob's sibling watering Aconite in Herbology

During the 1988–1989 school year, fifth-year Herbology students were taught about Aconite by Professor Pomona Sprout. She had her students wear their dragon-hide gloves whilst handling the plant due its toxicity.[3]

On 2 September 1991, Severus Snape critically interrogated Harry Potter about this plant in his first Potions lesson with him, to see how much he knew about the subject.[1]

During the 2010–2011 school year, Daniel Page and a Muggle-born student encountered an aconite plant in the Forbidden Forest while helping Rubeus Hagrid collect Dittany to brew Essence of Dittany to help heal the Hippogriff Teartalon. The student asked Daniel if the aconite was Dittany, but Daniel warned them in time before they touched it, alerting them that the plant was aconite and that its leaves were poisonous to the touch.[8]

Behind the scenes[]

  • There are over 250 species of Aconitum, the most common of which are known as aconite, monkshood, or wolfsbane.
  • Aconitum species are highly toxic, although they were used in medicine as a pain-reliever, diuretic, heart sedative, and to induce sweating.[9]
  • In medieval Europe, aconite was often used as poison in animal bait.[10] or on arrows used when hunting wolves, hence the herb also became known as wolfsbane.[11]
  • Aconite, a member of the buttercup family, was believed to be an important ingredient in witches' flying ointments.[12][13]
  • The closed captions for the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone erroneously refers to aconite as "akamite."
  • This plant was created for the Beta testing of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, but it along with other ingredients and potions did not make the final cut and were not released in the game.

Appearances[]

Notes and references[]

Herbology
Pottedmandrake
Herbologists
Astrid Cole · Clifford Cromwell · Marmaduke Dale · Blossom Degrasse · Miranda Goshawk · Alfred Lawley · Olgae Marinus · Beaumont Marjoribanks · Nepali wizard · Gethsemane Prickle · Sanjay Shanker · Selina Sapworthy · Phyllida Spore · Yubert Thorne · Tilden Toots · Hadrian Whittle · Winogrand
Herbology at Hogwarts
Herbology Award · Herbology Lesson Cup · Herbology Race Cup · Herbology Store · Hidden Herbology Corridor
Greenhouses One · Two · Three · Four · Five · Six · Seven · Professor's office
Professors Mirabel Garlick's predecessor · Mirabel Garlick · Herbert Beery · Pomona Sprout · Neville Longbottom
Textbooks Flesh-Eating Trees of the World · Ingredient Encyclopedia · One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi · Winogrand's Wondrous Water Plants
Plants studied and grown at Hogwarts
Aconite · Alihotsy · Asphodel · Belladonna · Bouncing Bulb · Bubotuber · Bubotuber pus · Chinese Chomping Cabbage · Cowbane · Dandelion · Devil's Snare · Dirigible Plum · Dittany · Fanged Geranium · Fat cactus-like plant · Fire seed bush · Flitterbloom · Floo · Flutterby bush · Fluxweed · Gillyweed · Ginger · Greenhouse Tree · Hemlock · Honking daffodil · Ivy · Knotgrass · Lady's Mantle · Lavender · Leaping Toadstool · Lovage · Mandrake · Mimbulus mimbletonia · Mistletoe · Moly · Nettle · Peppermint · Puffapod · Raspberry · Rose · Sage · Screechsnap · Scurvy grass · Self-fertilising shrub · Shrivelfig · Snargaluff · Sneezewort · Sopophorous plant · Sopophorous Bean · Spiky Bush · Spiky Prickly Plant · Stinksap · Sugar Shrub · Toad-eating plant · Tormentil · Umbrella Flower · Valerian · Vampiric vegetation · Venomous Tentacula · Walking plant · Wax vegetables · Whomping Willow · Wiggentree · Wild rice · Wormwood
Spells taught in Herbology at Hogwarts
Fire-Making Spell (Incendio) · Herbivicus Charm (Herbivicus) · Incendio Duo Spell (Incendio Duo) · Lumos Solem Spell (Lumos Solem) · Severing Charm (Diffindo)
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