monkshood, Aconitum napellus

Buttercups have such fun! Like they are dressing up for a masked ball. Here you can almost imagine the eyes - the monk? - that could be peering out at us. Don't dance with this guy! He's poison through and through. So often involved in deaths that you could be sentenced to death for growing in one ancient time. So toxic it was an arrow poison in the old world. It was the weapon of choice in a Midsommer Murder the other evening. Also known as wolfsbane, here it has been planted, one hopes just for its beauty, and has escaped in CT, ME, MI, MN, NH, NY, PA, VT, WI, ON, and QC. Beal Gardens, MSU, 8/13/13.