o 



RANUNCULACE^. 



According to the same authority the hellebores differ extremely in 



their medicinal activity. 



H 



H. viridis L. and H. foaticlus L. (natives of Britain), and H. 



Waldst. et Kit., a Hungrarian species, while H. niaer is 



the weakest of all> 



_ Description— Black Hellebore produces a knotty, fleshy, brittle 

 mizome which creeps and branches slowly, forming in the course of 

 years an mtangled, interlacing mass, tlirowing out an abundance of 

 stout straight roots. Both rhizome and roots are of a blackish brown, 

 but the younger roots are of lighter tint and are covered with a short 



Tl 7/1 f~\ I I "T T T /^ fc W~* r\ "V-\ ^ ^ -1 *-vx 



woolly tomentum. 



ilh 



pit and detached. It is in very knotty irregular pieces, 1 to 2 or 3 

 mches long and about ^\ to ^\, of an inch in diameter, internally whitish 

 and ot a horny texture. If cut transversely (especially after maceration), 

 It shows a circle of white woody wedges, 8 to 12 in number, surrounded 

 by a thick bark. The roots are unbranched, scarcely ^\ of an inch in 

 diameter. The younger, when broken across, exhibit a thick bark 

 cncirchng a simple woody cord ; in the older this cord tends to divide 

 into converging wedges which present a stellate appearance, though 

 not so distinctly as in Actwa. The drug when cut or broken has a 

 slight odour like that of senega. Its taste is bitterish and slightly acrid. 



The cortical part both of the rhizome and 

 tne rootlets exhibits no distinct medullary rays. In the rootlets the 

 woody centre is comparatively small and enclosed by a narrow zone 

 somewhat as in sarsaparilla. A distinct pith occurs in the rhizome but 

 not always m the rootlets, their woody column forming one solid bundle 

 or being divided into several. The tissue contains small starch granules 

 and drops of fatty oil. 



emical Compositi 



Helle 



bore by Gmelin, and FeneuUe and Capron, and of Riegcl indicated only 

 the presence of the more usual constituents of plants 



Bastick, on the other hand, in 1852 obtained from the root a peculiar, 

 non-volahle crystalline, chemically-indifferent substance which he 

 mimed II cUehopn It is stated to have a bitter taste and to produce 

 111 addition a tingling sensation on the tongue : to be slightly soluble in 

 water, more so in ether, and to dissolve freely in alcohol 



Marme and A. Husemann extracted helleborin (186 1) by treating 

 with hot water the green fatty matter which is dissolved out of the 

 rootby boilmg alcohol. After recrystallization from alcohol, it is 

 PseSne t^- ^^"^^^g' colourless needles, having the composition 

 '^ -tt -U . It is stated to be highly narcotic. Helleborin appears to be 



H. 



'{w^'' ., . ^ 1 ^^ ODtainable only to the extent of 0-4 per millc 

 v> lien it is boiled with dilute sulphuric acid, or still better with solution 



ot zmc chloride, it is pnnvpr-fn.l iT.+.. o„..„,. .,„j tt^u^-l •„ /-i^oxjssnd 



Hclleboresin. C^'^H 



Marmd and Husemann succeeded °in isolating other 'crystallized 



from 



by 



precipitation with phospho-molybdic acid. They obtained firstly a 



vla?e3*r^«S!fr'^'*''^"'r''^''^^^* ^"^^^i^'- J^<^1^^« t" ^« simply H. orknialis 

 places jj. 2->onticus A. Br., a plant which Lam. 



