VERATRUM 79 



numerous whitish or pale yellowish nearly straight or slightly curved 

 wiry roots, free from the cortical layer, from 5 to 8 cm. long, and 

 numerous pits from which former roots once protruded; fracture 

 hard and horny; internally grayish-yellow, cortex 3 to 4 mm. thick, 

 central cylinder with three or four circles of small nearly circular 

 fibrovascular bundles; odor distinct; taste bitter, slightly astringent. 



Inner Structure. See Fig. 28. 



Constituents. A bitter glucoside, chamselirin, about 10 per 

 cent. This is a light yellowish-red amorphous substance, soluble 

 in water, causing the solutions to froth like saponin. It is also 

 soluble in alcohol, sparingly soluble in ether and insoluble in chloro- 

 form, petroleum benzin and benzol. With dilute acids it forms a 

 resinous body, chamseliretin, which is also soluble in water. The 

 so-called neutral substance known as helonin is merely a hydro- 

 alcoholic extract prepared from the drug and is a mixture of prin- 

 ciples. 



Adulterants. The rhizome of several species of Liatris, especially 

 L. spicata (Fam. Compositse) is said to have been substituted for 

 Helonias. These rhizomes have an aromatic, somewhat terebin- 

 thinate odor and a bitter more or less acrid taste. They contain 

 0.1 per cent of a volatile oil; 5 per cent of resin and 2 per cent of a 

 caoutchouc-like substance. 



Literature. Greene, Amer. Jour. Pharm., 1878, p. 250; Henry, 

 Ibid., 1892, p. 603. 



Veratrum. The rhizome and roots of Veratrum viride (Fam. 

 Liliacese), a perennial herb (Fig. 29) found growing in wet meadows 

 usually associated with skunk cabbage (Spathyema fcetida), and 

 indigenous to the eastern and central United States and naturalized 

 in Canada, British Columbia and Alaska; and Veratrum album, a 

 similar plant, indigenous to Central and Southern Europe, the former 

 being known as American or green hellebore and the latter as Euro- 

 pean or white hellebore. The plant dies down early in the summer 

 and the rhizome may be collected soon thereafter. It is cut longi- 

 tudinally and dried. Much of the drug used in this country is 

 derived from Veratrum album and imported from Germany. 



American or Green Hellebore. Rhizome upright, pbconical, 

 usually cut longitudinally into halves or quarters, 2.5 to 5 cm. long, 

 1.5 to 3 cm. in diameter; externally dark brown or brownish-black, 

 rough and wrinkled, somewhat annulate from scars of bud-scales, 

 top truncate, lower part more or less decayed, with numerous roots 

 and few root-scars; fracture hard and horny; internally light yellow, 

 cortex 2 to 3 mm. thick, endodermis distinct, central cylinder with 



