Aconitums are not easy to ID after seeds, and seeds are boring right?
but everyone likes to take pictures of the flowers.
I had to double check an Aconitum I grew from seeds which flowered for the first time. It was given as A. lycoctonum but the provenience was as well a plant grown from seeds, so it was important to double check.
These are the
minimum of the characters that will allow to double check a species or to start looking for a new one.
Overall and close up of flowers – this will show how tall is the hood in rapport with the flower width, and if pubescent or not, also the shape of the beak.
Most important - the shape of the nectary spurs (coiled for A. lycoctonum) and if they reach the top of the hood or not.
Also pictures of carpels (fruits) aspect and underside of the leaf (most often we only take images of the upper side). For many species more characters are needed but these would be useful at least for the start.
