XXXIV. 
HELLEBORUS NIGER. 
Black Hellebore, Christmas Rose. 
SynonyMs.—Helleborus niger legitimus, Clus. Hist., 274. Helleborus niger 
flore roseo, Bawh, Tw., 186. Helleborus niger verus, Gerarde, Herb., 975; Rais 
Hist., 697. HHelleborus niger, Linn. Sp. Pl.,783. Melampodium, Old Pharm. 
Fortran Namrs.—¥y.: L’Hellébore & fleurs roses, Hellébore noir, Rose de 
Noél. Jtal.: Elleboro nero. Span.: Helleboro negro. Germ.: Schwartze Nies- 
wurz, Schneerose. Dut.: Zwartnieskruid. Swed.: Schwartprustrot. Dan. : 
Sortnyserod. Russ.: Tscherniia tschemeritza. Arab.: Khurbue usivud, 
Nat. Order, Murrisitieum, Linn. ; RANUNCULACER, Juss. ; 
Hetiesore®, Decand.—Po.yanpRiA, PoLyGynta. 
Gen. Cuar.—Calyx permanent, of five roundish, obtuse, large sepals. 
Petals from eight to ten, very short, tubular, narrowest in the lower 
part, nectariferous. Stamens from thirty to sixty. Ovaries from three 
to ten. Stigmas terminal, orbicular. Capsules coriaceous. Seeds 
oval, disposed in two rows, on a linear, double-notched receptacle. 
Fetid, stiff, coriaceous, nearly smooth herbs, with divided leaves. 
‘Spec. Cxar.—Scapes leafless, bearing one to two flowers. 
Hisrory.—It was for a long time supposed that this plant was 
the Enacogos weras of the Greek physicians, but the researches 
of Tournefort and Sibthorp prove the true black Hellebore of 
the ancients to be a distinct species from our Helleborus niger, 
and denominated by them Helleborus officinalis. Hahnemann* 
has endeavoured to show that, by a different reading of the 
Greek text, we may consider these plants identical; yet the 
opinions of such well-known botanists are quite conclusive as to 
Fig. 1. A petal. 2. A stamen. 3. Germen, etc. 
* On the Helleborism of the Ancients, translated by R, E. Dudgeon, M.D. 
? 
