Aconitum heterophyllum Seeds | Atees
LATIN NAME: Aconitum heterophyllum
COMMON NAME: Atees, Indian Atees
Plant Profile
Atees is a Himalayan aconite with violet-blue hooded flowers and a root that is far less poisonous than those of its relatives. It grows on alpine slopes and in open meadows from Kashmir through Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Nepal, between about 2,500 and 4,000 metres, in ground that is snow-covered for half the year and grazed by yaks and sheep in summer. The plant rises from a pair of tuberous roots to 15 to 60 cm, with a stem that carries entire, oval leaves near the base and deeply divided ones higher up, a difference that gives the species its name. The flowers appear in late summer, blue-violet and hooded in the characteristic aconite shape, on a spike of a few blooms. The root is white, tapered and packed with alkaloids, and it is one of the most heavily collected medicinal plants in the western Himalaya.
Science & Biotechnology
Aconitum heterophyllum is a perennial herb of the buttercup family, and its root contains diterpene alkaloids of the atisine type rather than the aconitine type found in the deadly aconites. That difference is why it has a place in Ayurvedic medicine as ativisha, used for fever, diarrhoea and vomiting in children, while A. napellus is a poison with a very narrow margin. The plant is heterophyllous: the lower leaves are entire and the upper ones are deeply cut, and the two forms look so different that early botanists described them as separate species. It flowers in late summer and is pollinated by bumblebees, which push into the hood for nectar and pick up pollen on their backs. The tuber is renewed slowly, and a plant takes several years to reach flowering size, which is why wild populations collapse under collection. It is classified as endangered in India, and trade in wild tubers is restricted.
Uses & Benefits
The dried tuber is an important Ayurvedic drug, sold as ativisha or atees, and it is used in compound medicines for fever, digestive disorders and childhood illnesses. It is also used in Tibetan and Unani medicine, and it appears in the pharmacopoeias of several Himalayan countries. Because wild supply is limited, cultivation trials have been started in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, where the plant is grown from seed and from tuber pieces for four or five years before harvest. In a garden it is a collector’s alpine, grown for its late-summer blue flowers in a cool, moist bed or under glass. It is not a plant for a warm climate, and it has no food use. Its greatest value now is conservation, since the wild populations are the genetic base for a significant medicinal trade.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed in autumn on the surface of a moist, humus-rich mix, and leave the pots outside through winter; the seed needs cold and light, and germination is slow and uneven, often taking two seasons. Alternatively plant tuber pieces in autumn, two centimetres deep, in a cool, shaded frame. Grow the seedlings in a mix of leafmould, loam and grit, and keep them moist and shaded through summer. Plant out into a cool, humus-rich bed that does not dry out, in partial shade, and mulch with leaf litter. The plant is hardy to about minus fifteen but dislikes winter wet, so plant it on a slight slope. Do not disturb the tubers, and expect three to four years from seed to flowering.
Our Take
A Himalayan aconite whose root is medicine rather than poison, and which is being collected out of existence. Cool, damp, and slow.
Related Reading
If Atees appeals to you, these related plants are worth a look: