NAT. ORDER. 



Eanunculaceoe. 



HELLEBORUS VIRIDIS. GEEEN HELLEBORE. 



Class XIII. POLYANDRIA. OrdCT III PoLYGYNIA. 



Gen. Char. Cali/.r, permanent. Petals, eight to ten. Stamens, 

 thirty to sixty. Stigmas, terminal, orbicular. 



Spc. Char. Xearcs, radical, very smooth. Pcdunclcs,h\fiA. Sepals, 

 roundish-ovate, green. 



This species of hellebore has a round, delicate stem, a little 

 branched near the top, but not near as much as the other varieties ; 

 leafy, reddish at the base, upright, smooth, and from a foot to eighteen 

 inches in heig-ht ; the leaves are soft, and of a light pea-green color ; 

 those from the bottom are on long- petioles, but those on the stem sit 

 close to their sheaths ; the leaflets are from seven to ten in number, 

 lanceolate, acuminate, sharply serrate, smooth, gashed, usually trifid, 

 the divisions sometimes deeply lobed ; and at the base of each pedun- 

 cle is a similar leaf, only smaller ; the peduncles are axillary, an inch 

 long, round, supporting one and two nodding green flowers. It is said 

 to be a native of France, but is found in many parts of the United 

 States. Large quantities of this plant I have found growing on the 

 north side of Great Hills, (so called by the inhabitants.) in the town 

 of Leverett, Franklin county, Mass. 



Medical Properties and Uses. Haller reckons up all the reputed 

 virtues of Hellebore under this species ; and indeed seems to be what 

 German practitioners have substituted for the tme plant of the ancients, 

 HeUeborus oricntalis. We learn from the Flora Londinensis, that die 



Vol. IV.— 152 



