774 HELLEBORUS. TCI-ASS XIH. ORDER II. 



green above, nearly smooth, paler and somewhat downy beneath, and 

 reticulated with prominent veins, the leaves of the stem smaller, or 

 digitate. Flowers two or three, terminal and axillary, on drooping 

 somewhat angular and downy pedicles, pale green . Calyx of five 

 roundish ovate pieces, quite smooth, spreading, large. Petals eight 

 or ten, narrow, tubular, obtusely two lipped, nectariferous at the base. 

 Stamens numerous, with 2Lw\-shsiiped Jilaments, and roundish two celled 

 anthers. Styles awl-shaped, erect, with a small terminal obtuse stigma. 

 Capsules three to five, ovate compressed coriaceous follicles, acutely 

 keeled at the back, bursting on the inner edge, pointed by the erect 

 persistent style. Seeds numerous, smooth, shining, black, oblong, 

 attached by the end to the inner margins of the capsules. 



Habitat. — Woods and thickets, especially in a chalky country j 

 Oxfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Sussex, &c. ; Dunglass Glen, and Las- 

 wade, Scotland. 



Perennial j flowering in April and May. 



This species appears to have been used by the Germans as a substi- 

 tute for the Greek iXki^opq [j.iXcx,g, but it does not appear to be so 

 powerful a plant as the following. 



2. H. fcBtidus, Linn. (Fig. 876.) Stinking Hellebore. Stem many 

 flowered, branched and leafy ; radical leaves pedate, on channeled foot- 

 stalks, the cauline with broadly dilated ones, smooth ; stigmas spreading. 



English Botany, t. 613.— English Flora, vol. iii. p. 58. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, ed. 3. vol. i. p. 215. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 12. 



Root fleshy, with stout spreading fibres. Stem about two feet high, 

 mostly much branched and leafy, quite smooth, a dark green. Leaves 

 large, spreading, evergreen, pedate, on long angular channeled foot- 

 stalks, dilated at the base, leaflets narrow, linear lanceolate, paler be- 

 neath, with a prominent mid-rib, the margins distantly serrated towards 

 the point, the stem leaves mostly three cleft, with dilated ovate oblong 

 footstalks, gradually becoming simple bracteas at the base of each 

 ramification. Flowers numerous, in erect spreading panicles, pale 

 green. Calyx of five roundish segments, somewhat tinged with purple 

 towards the margin. Petals about ten, small, tubular, somewhat 

 dilated upwards with an oblique notched mouth. Stamens numerous, 

 with awl-shaped filaments, and yellow anthers, of two cells. Capsules 

 three to five, ovate compressed coriaceous follicles, quite smooth, with 

 an awl-shaped spreading persistent style, bursting laterally, one celled, 

 many seeded, attached to the inner edge of the valve. 



Habitat. — Pastures, thickets, and plantations; not unfrequent in 

 England, especially in a chalky or clay soil ; less frequent in Scotland. 



Perennial ; flowering in March and April. 



The foetid Hellebore possesses bitter acrid properties, with a very 

 unpleasant odour, and both in the fresh and dried state is violently 

 cathartic and emetic, and in overdoses very injurious. It has been 



