| HEL— 167 
Flowers numerous, terminal, pendant, gobore, ‘i Bice 
peduncles, furming a kind of umbel. Petals 5, oval, con- 
cave, persistent, pale-green, margins tinged with purple ; 
Stamens the length of the petals; anthers white; 
3, hairy, resembling those of Helleborus niger. A native 
of England. 
Flowers about March. 
Mepicat Prorentries anp Uses. Smell of the recent plant, 
extremely fetid, taste bitter, acrid, excoriates the mouth 
and fauces ; commonly operates as a cathartic, sometimes 
as an emetic ; in large doses, very deleterious, 
Asan anthelmintic—affeeting the round worms ; Bissett 
considers it the best medicine for this purpose ; a decoction 
of a dram of the green leaves, or 15 grains of dried, in 
powder, to children between 4 and 7 years; proves some- 
what emetic, and purges. Repeated 2 or 3 successive 
‘  mornings—Used also in form of syrup with coarse sugar, 
and bruised green leaves, moistened with vinegar; a tea 
spoonful the dose to children between 2 and 6 years—tr. 
of Rhub. used after it, if it does not purge. 
HELLEBORUS TRIFOLIUS, (of Dyckman’s ed. of Edin. 
Disp.) is not properly referred to the genus Helleborus. 
It is the Coptis trefolia, (which see)—or Gold-thread, of 
the Pharm. of the U. S.—of Bigelow and Barton’s Med. _ 
Botany,.and of some of the dispensatories. It is an anti- 
septic bitter, possessing some astringency ; + native of the 
white mountains of New-Hampshire and other parts of 
where it is much used, in aphthous affec- 
en. 
GER, OR Mak4mrgDrvx. 
Ra a 
Synonyms—Helleborus niger ites (Clusius.) : 
- Helleborus niger flore roseo. (Bauhin.) 
Helleborus niger verus. ( Gerard.) : om 
Orrrerat. Hellebori nigri, radix. Lond. Hellebori nigri, _ 
radix—{ Melampodium) radix. Dub. The moot of os scope : 
Hellebore. Helleborus niger, radix, U.S, fia 
Cabinet spears Jeff. Coll. No. 344—figure the plant, 
No, 345 
Root ae rough, knotted or gibbous, externally black- 
ish, internally yellow, sending off ‘many. MON round, 
long fibres. — 
; Pea erect, round, tapering andtovards the bottom 
