Flora Medica

HELLEBORUS.base, coarsely serrated near the point. Scape shorter than the petiole1-2-flowered, with ovate lacerated bracts immediately beneath thecalyx. Sepals 5, ovate or roundish, large, white slightly tinged withpink, eventually becoming green. Petals green, tubular, shorter thanthe stamens. Carpels 6-8, follicular, many seeded. Similar ineffect to H. orientalis ; and long supposed to be the genuine blackhellebore of the ancients. It is a narcotic acrid poison. Manycases of the fatal employment of this root are recorded. Two personshaving taken a decoction of it,were seized in 45 minutes withvomiting, then with delirium, and afterwards with violent convulsions.One died in 2 hours and a half, the other in less than 2 hours. It isa dangerous drastic, and isemployed as an emmenagogue and hydragogue.The fibres of the rhizoma are the part used.24. H. orientalis Gars. exot. t.19./.B. DC. prodr.i. 46.S. and C. ii. t. 87. EXXefyo? /ueXa?, Dioscorides. H. officinalisFl. Grcec. t. 583. Mountainous broken ground in Greece andthe Levant.Rhizoma black, thick, with cylindrical fibres. Radical leaves stalkedpedate, downy beneath their ; segments almost sessile, oblong, acutelyserrulate. Stem taller than the leaves, corymbose, 3-5-flowered.Floral leaves subsessile, palmated; the lobes 3-5, oblong, acute,serrulate. Calyx purple, with oval, very blunt, sepals. Capsules 5.The root was formerly much celebrated in mania, epilepsy, and dropsy.It is still used in the Levant, and is called " Zopteme " by the Turks,Sicap^jj by the Greeks. It is acrid and violently cathartic.25. H. viridis Linn, sp.pl. 784. FL Lend. t. 34. Eng. Bot.t. 200. DC. prodr.i. 47. In the woods and thickets of Europeon a chalky soil.Rhizoma fleshy, black, with numerous long stout fibres. Leaves brightdeep green, quite smooth, pedate; the cauline ones subsessile andpalmate; the segments oblong, undivided, entire at the base, somewhatserrated at the apex. Stems often forked, lifoot high. Flowers few,terminal, and axillary, stalked, mostly solitary, drooping, green in everypart. Sepals roundish-ovate. Capsules 3-4, short, wrinkled.This is said by Stevenson and Churchill to be the best substitute forH. orientalis, though less active. Mr. Pereira says it is rarely or neveremployed.26. H. fetidus Linn. sp. pi. 784. Woodv. t. 19. Eng. Bot.t. 613. DC. prodr.\. 47. S. and C.\. t. 21. Thickets andwaste ground, chieflyin a chalky soil in the more western partsof Europe.Stem leafy, many-flowered. Leaves stalked, pedate, of a livid greencolour, quite smooth, with linear-oblong or lanceolate serrated segmentsthe ; upper ones gradually losing their blade, and changing intopale lanceolate, entire bracts. Flowers numerous, panicled, drooping.Petals nearly erect, stained with dull purple about the edges.Similar in effects to H. niger. The leaves are emetic and purgative.They have been strongly recommended as a vermifuge againstthe large round worm (Ascaris lumbricoides). Pereira.7 B 4