THE GREEN HELLEBORE. 35 



tirely green ; but in the allied species they are not " verdant 

 throughout/' but have a fringe, or border, of dull purple 

 colour. Both are British species. A third well-known 

 species is the black hellebore, or Christmas rose (H. niger], 

 a plant of Southern Europe, that may often be met with in 

 cultivation ; in this the broadly-displayed sepals are pure 

 white, and in the centre, surrounding the clustering 

 stamens, are the small and inconspicuous green petals. 

 Another foreign species, H. ojjicinalis, is or it would be 

 more correct to say was held in repute as a medicinal 

 plant, but the two British species and the Christmas i*ose 

 possess powerful effects, and are at times substituted for it. 

 As it may be somewhat puzzling to some of our 

 readers to find that the species which is especially dis- 

 tinguished as the black hellebore has large and striking 

 flowers of a pure white, we hasten to explain that it 

 derives both its English and botanical name from the 

 colour of its roots the parts used medicinally, and there- 

 fore well known to many herbalists and physicians, who 

 had perhaps little other knowledge of the plant. The 

 fresh root of the hellebore applied to the skin produces in- 

 flammation and blistering, and given internally it is power- 

 fully irritant, so that some considerable degree of care is 

 needed in its employment ; but we find both a tincture and 

 a powder of it are still occasionally used by the faculty, and 

 directions for their proper preparation, use, and so forth, 

 are all duly set forth in the manuals of materia medica. 

 In Burton's " Anatomy of Melancholy " we find that 



" Borage and hellebore fill two scenes, 

 Sovereign plants to purge the veins 

 Of melancholy, and cheer the heart 

 Of those black fumes which make it smart." 



