NAT. ORDER. 



Ranmiculacece. 



HELLEBORUS NIGER. BLACK HELLEBORE. 



Class XIII. PoLYANDRiA. Order VI. Polygynia. 



Gen. Char. Calyx, wanting. Petals, five, or more. Nectaries, bil- 

 abiate, tubular. Capsules, many-seeded, nearly erect. 



Spe. Char. Scape, one or two-flowered, nearly naked. Leaves. 

 '• pedate. 



The root is perennial, transverse, rough, knotted, externally 

 black, internally whitish, and sends ofT many strong, round, long, 

 depending fibres ; i\\eJlower stalks are erect, round, tapering, and 

 towards the bottom of a redish color ; the leaves are of a deeji green 

 color, compound, and of a peculiar shape, generally divided into 

 five leaflets, and spring directly from the root by long footstalks ; 

 the leaflets are eliptical, smooth, coriaceous, and the upper half 

 serrated; xhe floral leaves, which are oval and concave, supply the 

 place of the calyx ; the petals are five, large, round, concave, and 

 spreading, at first of a redish tint, but by age they turn green ; 

 the nectaries are about eight in number, tubulated, somewhat com- 

 pressed, bilabiated, and of a greenish yellow color ; the filaments 

 are numerous, and white ; the antliers are yellow : the germeiis 

 vary in number, usually from four to eight : the capsules or jmds. 

 contain many oval, shining, blackish, seeds. 



^\{\s, plant is a native of Austria and Italy, but is found growing 

 wild in Germany and many parts of Switzerland. It \\ as unknown 

 to the gardners in England, until cultivated l)y Mr. John Gerard 

 in 1596, where, if the weather be sufficiently mild, it flowers in 



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