PHAEMAOOGRAPHIA. 



L~Pn.ENOGAMOUS or FLOWERING PLANTS. 



icotskiions ani) ^gnino^ptrm^. 



EANUNCULACE^. 



RADIX HELLEBORI NIGRI. 



Radix Ellehori nigri^ Radix 3Ielampodii ; Black Hellebore Root ; 



F. Racine d'Ellebore noir ; G. Schwarze Niesivurzel. 



Botanical Origin — HcUchorus niger L., a low^ perennial herb, 

 native of sub-alpine woods in Southern and Eastern Europe. It is 

 found in Provence, Northern Italy, Salzburg, Bavaria, Austria, 

 Bohemia, and Silesia, as w^ell as, according to Boissier,i in Continental 

 Greece. 



Under the name of Christmas Rose, it is often ^a'own in English 



o*" " ^ '*" *^"e> 



gardens on account of its handsome white flowers, which are put forth 

 in mid-winter. 



^ History — The story of the daughters of Prcetus, king of Argos, 

 being cured of madness by the soothsayer and physician Melamj^us, 

 who administered to them hellebore, has imparted great celebrity to 



the plant under notice. 



Melampr 



a species of Hellehoras, its identity with that of the present plant is 

 extremely improbable. Several other species grow in Greece and Asia 



jET. 



med 



He 



ancients employed not the entire root but only the bark separated from 



the rhiz 

 effected. 



if. orientalis it raav be easi 



^ Flora Oriental^, i. (1867) 61. ^ ^ZeUschr. d, GeselUch. cL Aerzle zu Wien. 



2 See the list of theses and memoirs on 1800, No. f?5 ; Canstatt's J ahreabericht for 



Hellebore given by Merat and De Lens, 1S59. i. 47- 1860. i. 55. 

 DkL iii. (1831) 47-2, 473. 



A 



