In the vast area from the northeast to the southwest of our country, July and August are the seasons when mountain flowers bloom. In the mountains and forests, and in the wilderness, you can often see a type of tall herbaceous plant with leaves split like palms and many blue-purple flowers blooming from the top of the plant. Their flowers are unique, with large calyxes and small petals. The large sepal on the top looks like a hood or an ancient warrior's helmet, and the image is very strange. This type of plant is a member of the Aconitum genus of the Ranunaceae family.

Speaking of Aconitum, all herbal collectors in the production area are familiar with it. Its roots have been used as medicine in China for more than 2,000 years, and its side roots are the commonly used Chinese herbal medicine "Aconite". Because Aconite can treat not only acute, critical and severe diseases, but also chronic and stubborn diseases, it is regarded as a "sacred medicine" by traditional Chinese medicine and is known as "the best medicine". But it is a traditional Chinese medicine that is difficult to master. The difficulty lies in its "big poison". Improper use or overdose can be life-threatening. In particular, the roots of Aconite (a kind of wild Aconitum) are more toxic, and only 3 to 4 grams can cause death by poisoning.

Aconitum is a relatively large family, with about 350 species. There are more than 160 species in China, and most of them are highly toxic. For example, just 0.5 grams of the root of a branch of Artemisia vulgaris (Aconitum short-stem) grown on the snow in the high mountainous areas of southwest my country can kill a person. In Medog, Tibet, Lhoba hunters use poisonous arrows ground into powder from the roots of a branch of Artemisia vulgaris (Gongbu Aconitum) in the snowy mountains to kill large animals. When grinding the poisonous powder, choose a place where no one is around, sit upwind and cover your mouth to prevent the wind from blowing the poisonous powder into your mouth and causing poisoning.

Because Aconitum is relatively common and its roots are famous in traditional Chinese medicine, it is the poisonous plant that most often causes poisoning. In addition to poisoning caused by improper use, it is also responsible for suicide, poisoning, homicide and accidental death. There are many cases. According to historical records, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Li Ji, the favored concubine of Duke Xian of Jin, mixed aconite powder into meat to harm people. In the early 1980s, a farmer in Sichuan ate buckwheat pancakes made by his wife mixed with cauliflower powder and died of poisoning two hours later. The relatives who helped bury the deceased were found to have eaten chili powder with a tool used to pound caowu. , another 10 people were poisoned. Although they survived after rescue, it also alarmed everyone and made people talk about it.

Although as early as in the book "Huainanzi", there is a saying that "the most evil in the world is chicken poison" (chicken poison is Aconitum), but why is Aconitum so poisonous? Ancient people It was not clear until the discovery of alkaloids in the 19th century, and scientists gradually revealed the inside story of the highly toxic nature of Aconitum. It turns out that plants of this genus contain highly toxic alkaloids such as aconitine, which are easily absorbed by the human body and can quickly cause nervous system and heart poisoning, leading to respiratory and circulatory system failure and death. The toxic dose of pure horseheadine is only 0.2 mg, and the lethal dose is 3 to 5 mg. In Europe, not long after aconitine was discovered, a famous murder case occurred. On December 3, 1881, the British doctor Lanson put a few milligrams of aconitine into a capsule in advance, and then put it into sugar and asked his brother-in-law to swallow it. After ten minutes, the victim showed symptoms of poisoning, and several died hours later. Finally, after verification by toxicology experts, the "mysterious poison" murder case was finally solved.