678 



HEL 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



HEL 



if chewed for a few minutes, leaves a sensation of numbness 

 on the tongue, which continues for a considerable time: 

 given in substance, in doses of ten or fifteen grains, it purges 

 roughly, and, to such as are of robust habits, may prove ser- 

 viceable in dropsical complaints ; but cloves, cardamoms, or 

 some other warm spice, should always be joined with it, to 

 correct its ill qualities, and render the use of it more safe : 

 taken in smaller doses, it promotes urine and perspiration, 

 and is very much extolled for its singular efficacy in obstruc- 

 tions and suppressions of the menses : it is likewise useful in 

 all hysteric, nervous, and hypochondriacal complaints ; and 

 was at one time esteemed almost a specific for madness. 

 There is a tincture of it kept in the shops, which is by-far 

 the best preparation for internal use : thirty or forty drops of 

 this is a dose; but in order to be productive of any remark- 

 able effects, the use of it must be persevered in for a consi- 

 derable length of time. Like most alpine plants, it loves a 

 pure air, a moderately moist situation, and an unmanured 

 soil. It will not thrive in the neighbourhood of London. 

 The flowers being liable to be injured by frost, must be 

 covered during the winter with hand-glasses, or preserved 

 in pots in a common hot-bed frame, without which they 

 cannot retain their beauty long. It is propagated by parting 

 the roots in autumn. 



4. Helleborus Viridis ; Green Hellebore. Stem bifid ; 

 branches leafy, two-flowered ; leaves digitate ; peduncles 

 axillary, an inch long, round, supporting two (sometimes only 

 one) nodding green flowers ; stem round, a little branched at 

 top, leafy, reddish at the base, upright, smooth, a foot or 

 eighteen inches high. Native of France, Italy, Austria, Car- 

 niola, Silesia, and Switzerland. Ray, in his History, gives 

 no hint of this or the next species being natives of Eng- 

 land ; and seems, in his Synopsis, to think that they are not 

 aboriginals here. Bobart, however, speaks of this species as 

 growing wild abundantly in Stokenehurch woods, and many 

 other rocky and hilly situations : it is found near Cambridge ; 

 near Leeds in Yorkshire ; near Arundel Castle, in Sussex ; 

 in various parts of Kent, Oxfordshire, and Northamptonshire. 

 Parkinson mentions his having seen it in the woods in Wor- 

 cestershire and Hampshire ; it is found also among bushes 

 in the woods and pastures of Dunglass Glen, Scotland : it 

 flowers in March and April. If the seeds of this, and of the 

 sixth species, be permitted to scatter, or are sown soon after 

 they become ripe, the plants will come up early in the follow- 

 ing spring, and when they have obtained sufficient strength, 

 may be transplanted into woods or wilderness quarters, where 

 they will thrive and flower very well in the shade, and make 

 a good appearance when few other plants are in flower. 



5. Helleborus Officinalis ; Black Hellebore. Leaves pedate ; 

 flower-stalks radical, many-flowered ; flowers white, turning 

 purplish as they fade ; bracteas deeply lobed, serrated; roots 

 black, fibrous, rather tuberous than creeping. This is the 

 true Black Hellebore of the ancients, which ought to be used 

 in medicine. The medicinal qualities of the root are acrid 

 and violently purgative, and were supposed useful in maniacal 

 cases. Found on Mount Athos, on hills near Thessalonica, 

 and near Constantinople. 



6. Helleborus Foatidus ; Stinking Hellebore, or Bears-foot. 

 Stem many-flowered, leafy ; leaves pedate ; root small, but 

 bent with a prodigious number of slender dark-coloured 

 fibres : at the divisions of the branches are oval lanceolate 

 stem-clasping stipules deeply bifid at the extremity ; at the 

 base of each peduncle, an oval lanceolate entire bracte; both 

 these are frequently tinged with purple ; flowers almost glo- 

 bular, pendent on peduncles, forming a sort of umbel. Native 

 of Germany, Switzerland, France, and England, preferring a 



chalky soil, among bushes, flowering early in the spring. 

 This species is always green, whereas the fourth species dies 

 down to the root every year. It is often called Black Helle- 

 bore, and is frequently used as an anthelmintic ; the powder 

 of the dried leaves being the preparation principally made 

 use of, and this in doses of about fifteen grains for children, 

 the decoction of about a drachm of the green leaves being 

 considered as equal to fifteen grains of the dry ones : it is 

 usually repeated on two, and sometimes three, successive 

 mornings; and seldom fails to bring away worms, if there 

 be any in the intestinal tube. A decoction of the roots is a 

 violent purge, and should be very sparingly used. Country 

 people cut them into pieces ; they insert these pieces into 

 holes made in the ears and dewlaps of cattle, which produces 

 a suppuration and discharge that proves serviceable in many 

 disorders. The powder of the roots or leaves strewed on 

 issues, greatly promotes the discharge, and consequently 

 renders them more efficacious. 



7. Helleborus Lividus ; Livid, Purple, or Great Three- 

 Jlmvered Black Hellebore. Stem many-flowered, leafy ; leaves 

 ternate ; flowering from January to May. This resembles the 

 fourth species, but differs from it in having trifoliate leaves, 

 which are broader, entire, with a smoother surface ; and the 

 stalks rise higher than any of our common sorts. Native 

 place unknown. It is propagated by parting its roots in 

 autumn, and by seeds : but few of the latter ripen in general, 

 nor do the roots make much increase : this is the real cause of 

 its present scarcity. As it flowers in February, and is a singu- 

 lar plant, it well deserves to be admitted into every collection. 



8. Helleborus Trifolius ; Small Three-leaved Hellebore. 

 Scape one-flowered ; leaves ternate ; stem leafless ; flower 

 minute, resembling that of the Parnassia, white, and some- 

 times yellow. It is a native of Denmark, Siberia, Hudson's 

 Bay, and of Canada,' where it is so abundant in the woods 

 as to cover the ground in many parts : it commonly chooses 

 mossy places that are not very wet; Woodsorrel and Alpine 

 Circeea are its companions. It is universally called Tissa- 

 voyanne jaune, by the Canadian French. The leaves and 

 stalks are used by the Indians, for giving a fine yellow colour 

 to several kinds of work, which they make of skins ; and the 

 French use it to dye wool yellow. It flowers in June and July. 



Helmet Flower. See Aconitum. 



Helonias; a geuus of the class Hexandria, order Trigynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: none. Corolla: petals 

 six, oblong, equal, deciduous. Stamina: filamenta six, sub- 

 ulate, a little longer than the corolla ; antherse incumbent. 

 Pistil: germen roundish, three-cornered; styles three, short, 

 reflex ; stigmas blunt. Pericarp : capsule roundish, three- 

 celled. Seeds : roundish. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: 

 none. Corolla: six-petalled. Capsule, three-celled. The 

 plants of this genus may be increased by offsets, taken from 

 the roots in autumn ; or by seeds, which should be sown soon 

 as ripe : they prefer a light fresh soil, and are hardy enough to 

 thrive in the open air. They must not be removed oftener 

 than once in three or four years ; and they are as long in 

 coming to flower from the seed. The species are, 



1. Helonias Bullata ; Spear-leaved Helonias. Leaves ellip- 

 tic-lanceolate, somewhat spatulate, ribbed; root perennial, 

 composed of many thick fleshy fibres; the stalk is terminated 

 by a close obtuse spike of dark red flowers, some of which 

 are barren. Native of moist shady places near Philadelphia, 

 where it is called Stargrass by the natives ; and is of an 

 acrid aromatic flavour. It flowers in April and May. 



2. Helonias Asphodeloides ; Grass-leaved Helonias. Stem- 

 leaves setaceous; stem extremely simple, two feet high; 

 flowers white, in a simple terminating raceme, on peduncles 



