SPERM ATOPHYTA ULIACEAE 381 



3. Veratrum (Tourn.) L. 



Perennial herbs; leaves broad, clasping, veined, and plaited; flowers in 

 large panicles, greenish, polygamous or monoecious; perianth in 6 parts, 

 spreading, greenish or brownish, without glands or nearly so, and not clawed ; 

 stamens short and free, ovary with 3 persistent styles, capsule 3-lobed, 3-celled 

 and several-seeded. A small genus of 10 or 11 species distributed in north 

 temperate regions. One species used in medicine ; all are poisonous. 



Veratrum viride, Ait. American White Hellebore 



A stout, leafy perennial from 2-7 feet high, with fleshy root, 1-3 inches 

 long; flowers in ample, dense, spike-like racemes; it blooms from May to July. 



Distribution. Common in swamps and wet woods, especially in eastern 

 North America, west to Wisconsin, south to the mountains of Georgia, and 

 north to Alaska. 



Veratrum calif ornicum, Durand. California Hellebore 



A stout perennial from 2-8 feet high, fleshy root, flowers in a large loose 

 terminal panicle ; perianth segments whitish with long and narrow floral leaves. 



Distribution. Common in the mountains of California and the Rocky 

 Mountains as far north as British Columbia, south to New Mexico. 



Poisonous Properties. Prof. Chesnut says : 



Cases arise mainly from overdoses in medicine, but instances of accidental poisoning 

 are reported for man and for various animals and birds. In one case all the members 

 of a household were poisoned by eating the young leaves, which were mistaken for those 

 of marsh marigold (C alt ha palustris) and prepared for food. Animals do not relish 

 the plant, which is acrid and burning in the fresh condition, but young aimals some- 

 times eat it with fatal results. The roots are not often mistaken for those of ediblf 

 plants, but being fleshy and especially rich in alkaloids, they are somewhat dangerous. 

 The seeds have been eaten by chickens with fatal results. The general effect is very 

 much like that of aconite (Aconitum Napcllus), being directed chiefly against the action 

 of the heart and spinal cord, both of which tends to paralyze. 



The symptoms of the poison are burning in the throat with increased 

 salivation, producing a weak pulse, labored respiration and profound prostra- 

 tion. The root was used by the Indians in making snuff. Dr. Halsted at- 

 tributed deaths of human beings as well as of cattle in New Jersey to this 

 plant. 



The number of poisonous substances found in hellebore is quite large. 

 Of these so-called veratrin, C 32 H lfl NO n , of earlier writers, has an alkaline 

 reaction, and a burning taste: it produces violent sneezing and dilates the pupil. 

 However, later investigators have separated this into the following bases: the 

 very toxic cevadin, C ,H,-09, veratridin, C-.H.-NO,, and sabadillin 



^o 4U 01 uo 11 



Veratrum album, L,., V. lobelianum Bernh., V. viride, Ait., also contain 

 in addition to the bases named above, two other bases, sabadin, C og H 51 NO 8 , 

 and sabadinin, C 27 H 45 NO 8 , and also the following substances: jervin C og H 37 NO,, 

 a pure alkaloid rubifervin C., 6 H 43 NO , pseudojervin C og H 4 ,NO., protoveratrin 



