Makou Hawaiian Buttercups Add No Aconitine to Magnum's I, the Deceased

Summary: Makou Hawaiian buttercups account for none of the aconitine accessed by a schizophrenic on Magnum PI's I, the Deceased Jan. 28, 2019.

Hawaiian buttercups (Ranunculus hawaiensis), known in Hawaii as makou; illustrated by Felix C. Salucop (identified by Carnegie Mellon University's Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation as a Philippine Islands illustrator flourishing ca. 1932-1940); O. Degener, Flora Hawaiiensis (1933), page 298: Public Domain, via Hathi Trust

Makou Hawaiian buttercups never avail themselves of the aconitine with which their aconite relatives assail a schizophrenic and cockroaches on Magnum PI action drama series episode I, the Deceased Jan. 28, 2019.

Director Krishna Rao and writer Scarlett Lacy build Season One's 14th episode around a schizophrenic, Dennis Sterling (Alex Morris), who believes himself to be boldly stalked. Dennis conveys personal safety concerns in a posthumous communication to Thomas Magnum (Jay Hernandez), private investigator and Robin's Nest security consultant to best-selling author Robin Masters. A postmortem divulges aconitine poisoning even though Dennis died in a traffic accident, before which he decreased his daily departures by depending upon door-to-door delivery drivers.

The Robin's Nest buildings entertain ants and termites because Magnum, who espies dead cockroaches around Dennis' crumbs, enjoys eating everywhere that enables his establishing crumb trails.

Aconite (Aconitum) and annual (Consolida) and perennial (Delphinium) larkspur members of the Ranunculaceae (from rānunculus, "froglet" and -āceae, "resembling") buttercup family furnish the alkaloid toxin aconitine.

All the above-ground shoots and all the below-ground roots of the aconite and annual and perennial larkspur relative, Ranunculus hawaiensis ("Hawaiian froglet"), get ranunculin simple sugars. Nothing from the Honolulu Police Department crime scene team, the Magnum private investigative team and the Medical Examiner's office hints as to what harbored aconitine overdoses. Horticultural industries import Ranunculaceae family members despite insular endemics such as makou ("we three [leaflets]") Hawaiian buttercups, identified by Asa Gray (Nov. 18, 1810-Jan. 30, 1888).

Agroindustry; human- and volcano-ignited fires; invasive cat's-ear (Hypochaeris radicata), sweet vernalgrass (Anthoxanthum odoratum) and velvetgrass (Holcus lanatus); logging; ranching; and residential development jeopardize makou Hawaiian buttercups.

Seeds and perhaps seeds, roots and bulbs perhaps keep makou Hawaiian buttercups propagated on wild Hawai'i and Maui and among private collectors and research institutions elsewhere.

Makou Hawaiian buttercups locate one seed, germinatable in grassy, wooded soils within three weeks, in every dry, non-explosive achene (from Greek ἀ-, "not" and χαίνω, "gaped"). They make hard-walled, non-splitting, one-seeded fruits from clustered, distinct, fruit-producing, pollen-receiving, unconnected pistils, green centers to slender, yellow anthems (from Greek ἀνθηρός, "blooming") on multiple stamens. They net many more stamens (from stāmen, "thread, warp") than petals on stalked yellow clusters noted for the waxy shine of reflective cells under surface cells.

Makou Hawaiian buttercups organize stalked achene fruits and stalked corymbose (from Greek κόρυμβος, "cluster") flowers and downy, lance-shaped, toothed foliage in three-leaflet sets on downy stems.

Branching, bushy, 19.68- to 78.74-inch- (50- to 200-decimeter-) tall, spreading, vine-like makou Hawaiian buttercups possess 1- to 3-inch (2.54- to 7.62-centimeter-) long flowering, fruiting, leafing stalks.

Makou Hawaiian buttercups queue up along quietened cinder cones and lava flows; around
'ōhi'a (Metrosideros polymorpha) and koa (Acacia koa) trees; and on grassy, open-pastured slopes. Surveys between 1970 and 2000 and in 2004 respectively reveal less than 10 occurrences of makou Hawaiian buttercups and less than 400 individual makou, predominantly seedlings. Eastern Maui's Haleakalā ("sun's house") Crater Ko'olau ("windward") Gap and Puu Nianiau ("protruding swordfern") cinder cone and western Hawai'i's volcanoes, except Kohala, shelter makou Hawaiian buttercups.

Wounding makou Hawaiian buttercups turns ranunculin into protoanemonin, toxin that troubles animal mucous membranes and skins, typically far less traumatically than aconitine-overdosed food on Magnum PI.

Private investigator Thomas Sullivan Magnum (Jay Hernandez) receives a posthumous video invitation from Dennis Sterling (Alex Morris) to investigate Sterling's death, in CBS-TV's Magnum P.I. season 1, episode 14, I, the Deceased: Magnum P.I. @MagnumPICBS via Facebook Feb. 2, 2019, at 3:33 p.m.

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Hawaiian buttercups (Ranunculus hawaiensis), known in Hawaii as makou; illustrated by Felix C. Salucop (identified by Carnegie Mellon University's Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation as a Philippine Islands illustrator flourishing ca. 1932-1940); O. Degener, Flora Hawaiiensis (1933), page 298: Public Domain, via Hathi Trust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924001353915?urlappend=%3Bseq=298

Private investigator Thomas Sullivan Magnum (Jay Hernandez) receives a posthumous video invitation from Dennis Sterling (Alex Morris) to investigate Sterling's death, in CBS-TV's Magnum P.I. season 1, episode 14, I, the Deceased: Magnum P.I. @MagnumPICBS via Facebook Feb. 2, 2019, at 3:33 p.m., @ https://www.facebook.com/MagnumPICBS/posts/319149465396416

For further information:

Degener, Otto. 3 July 1933. “Ranunculus Hawaiensis A. Gray Large-Flowered Native Buttercup; Makou.” Flora Hawaiiensis or The New Illustrated Flora of the Hawaiian Islands, book 2: 297-298. Honolulu HI: O. Degener.
Available via HathiTrust @ https://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924001353915?urlappend=%3Bseq=297

Doerr, John E., Jr. June 1959. "Hawaiian Buttercup, Makou." Hawaii Nature Notes, vol. 6: Haleakala Plants.
Available @ http://npshistory.com/nature_notes/havo/vol6-59a.htm

Gray, Asa. 1854. "12. Ranunculus Hawaiensis, Sp. Nov." United States Exploring Expedition, During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842, Under the Command of Charles Wilkes, U.S.N. Volume XV Botany Phanerogamia, Part I: 10-11. Philadelphia PA: C. Sherman.
Available via Biodiversity Heritage Library @ https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/40382241

Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation. “Felix C. Salucop.” Catalogue of the Botanical Art Collection at the Hunt Institute: Accession numbers 483-4806.
Available @ http://fmhibd.library.cmu.edu/HIBD-DB/ArtCat/recordlist.php

"I, the Deceased." Magnum PI: The First Season. Los Angeles CA: Paramount Pictures Corporation, Jan 28, 2019.

Magnum P.I. @MagnumPICBS. 2 February 2019, at 3:33 p.m. "Fuel your sense of mission. Catch up and stream Magnum P.I. now: https://bit.ly/2WvjCyx." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MagnumPICBS/posts/319149465396416

Magnum P.I. @MagnumPICBS. 28 January 2019, at 11:40 a.m. "Magnum's client has the foresight to hire him pre-death. Stream the latest episode of Magnum P.I. now: http://bit.ly/2zrZe7U." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MagnumPICBS/posts/316977508946945

Magnum P.I. @MagnumPICBS. 28 January 2019, at 10:52 a.m. "Even if you are in an Aloha state of mind, you can catch tonight's all-new episode of Magnum P.I. at 9/8c on CBS and CBS All Access: https://bit.ly/2zCGmTF." Facebook.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MagnumPICBS/posts/316813405630022

Marriner, Derdriu. 11 November 2018. "Makiawa Hawaiian Sardines Appease Magnum PI's The Cat Who Cried Wolf." Earth and Space News. Sunday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/11/makiawa-hawaiian-sardines-appease.html

Marriner, Derdriu. 6 October 2018. "Hawaiian Dolphinfish Mahi-Mahi Abide by Magnum PI's From the Head Down." Earth and Space News. Saturday.
Available @ https://earth-and-space-news.blogspot.com/2018/10/hawaiian-dolphinfish-mahi-mahi-abide-by.html

Universität Stuttgart Historisches Institut. “Salucop, Felix C.” Database of Scientific Illustrators (DSI).
Available @ https://dsi.hi.uni-stuttgart.de/index.php?tablename=dsi&function=details&where_field=id&where_value=12837

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Ranunculus hawaiensis (makou)." Federal Register, Part II: Department of the Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, vol. 80, no. 189 (Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2015): 58841-58842.
Available @ https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2015-09-30/pdf/2015-24305.pdf

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. "Ranunculus hawaiensis (Makou)." Federal Register, Part III: Department of the Interior U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, vol. 75, no. 217 (Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010): 69278-69279.
Available @ https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2010-11-10/pdf/2010-27686.pdf#page=2