If the seeds are wet, the alkaloids they contain can be absorbed through the skin. If dry, like you indicated, the likelyhood of any problem isn't much of an issue (for you or your cat). In the fall after the plant has died back, the roots of monkshood are the most toxic; and the sap should be avoided at all times.

Beautiful but deadly. But, hey, it's deer resistant!

Monkshood (aconitum - several species) is becoming a widely grown ornamental today... always scares me because I see the plants frequently offered without adequate warnings. I even saw a famous interior decorator hostess arranging the flowers barehanded on a TV program once.

I have a 1926 thin little medical book called USEFUL DRUGS. It was the fore-runner of the several-pound PDR of today, and it lists every drug by stating uses and how to prepare the drug. In those days they were still mostly treating symptoms, not the cause of the disease itself. How the doctor was to determine the dosage was by trial and error and past experience. It states the symptoms of toxicity, the amount of the drug required to produce those symptoms in a healthy person (gender usually listed) of certain size and weight... the doctor then guesses the rest.

Aconitum was widely used as powerful painkiller... for that reason was widely grown in Europe and Colonial America. It was used for pain ranging from severe toothache to terminal cancer... accidental overdoses did result in death enough times to become some of the handed-down lore of this plant. I think it was also once known as Wolfsbane?

A famous story from Britian back when there were lots of local wars (15th-16th Century?). A country woman's house was occuppied by 30+ soldiers of the other side's army. She didn't make a fuss... just fixed them a stew for supper and fed them. Next morning every one of them was dead. Unknown what she used, but speculation is that it was aconitum, which would probably have been in her garden for home medical use.

Drug potency in plants can vary widely with growing conditions, season, part of plants, etc, etc.

I'd say you made it thru this time cuz you and the cat are still OK. However, our flower gardens a full of plants of sometimes extreme toxicity, most of which the generalist gardner is unaware.

Example... Narcissus. I knew there had been deaths of families thru the Middle Ages when skullery maids accidentally used daffodil bulbs instead of onions in stews, etc. However, this summer I came across an internet reference that really made me think about them seriously.... that Roman soldiers carried them as part of their battle gear, so that if they were griveously wounded they could end their lives quickly by eating the bulbs, instead of suffering for a much longer time by lying on the battlefield until they died.

Since y'all are probably wondering by now if I use herbal medicine... ABSOLUTELY NOT! No way an amateur knows the potency of a mix, and there is no way we even know entirely all the potential drugs in even some food crops.

When I read about the Chinese medical uses of bitter melon, I decided that eating it politely in soup... cooked by the lady who gave me the seeds... was quite enough consumption of a plant with 30+ known pharmaceutical drugs in it. To me, bitter melon will remain an ornamental .... and trade item for Chinese dinners.... but obviously it can be eaten safely if prepared by a knowledgeable cook... as can cassava, poi, pokeweed, etc...

I do hope that you're ok, that you didn't start displaying symptoms moments after typing your question. If you're ever concerned about whether you've been poisoned by a deadly plant, may I suggest that you actually call a poison control center, or at least get some immediate answers by using google? I entered "aconitum poisoning contact" and the first hit told me that prolonged dermal contact can result in poisoning, and symptoms appear in app. 30 minutes, and include nausea, vomiting, etc.. I sincerely hope that you did not experience this, but did you really just type this in and then sit back to see if someone on Gardenweb would respond and help you out? Please don't do that--it's not a good survival instinct.