In my Catsbane post, I mentioned this was coming — it’s wolfsbane!
Wolfsbane, or wolf’s bane if you want to sound more arcane, is a very poisonous plant also known as monkshood or aconite. A quick aside: I always get aconite confused with atropine, which I wrote about in the belladonna post. Though not the same, they are both poisons, and both names come from Greek myth: atropine from Atropos, one of the Fates, and aconite from the hills where Cerberus (guard dog of the underworld) can be found.
And wolfsbane’s connection with canines doesn’t end there. Some people think the name came from an a medieval practice of lacing meat with the plant’s poison and leaving it out to kill wolves or other predators. Of course, it’s also associated with werewolves. Supposedly, the plant is able to turn a person into a werewolf if ingested on the full moon, yet also able to turn a werewolf back into a human (or at least stop their wolfish transformation).
Werewolves aside, it sounds like wolfsbane is a terrible way to die. The poison attacks the gastrointestinal system and then paralyzes the heart and lungs, acting in just a few hours. Because the plant is common around the world, many cultures have used its poison for hunting. So many people used it for murder in Rome that eventually the Roman emperor outlawed it altogether.
Though today wolfsbane seems more like folklore than a real threat, there may be more wolfishness in your food than you think. Goji berries, a popular “superfood,” are also known as wolfberries! There’s no connection between them and wolfsbane aside from the name, though. 🙂 At least, not as far as we know . . . !
Selected Resources
Cunningham, Scott. Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs. Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications, 2020.
Inkwright, Fez. Botanical Curses and Poisons: The Shadow-Lives of Plants. Liminal 11, 2021.
Willoughby, Jean. Nature’s Remedies: An Illustrated Guide to Healing Herbs. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2016.
“Goji Berry Culture.” Penn State Extension. Find the article here.
