BLACK HELLEBORE 225 



and from 1 to 5 mm. in thickness; externally grayish-yellow, bearing 

 at the crown the remains of the leaf bases and beset with numerous 

 thin roots; fracture short, fibrous; inner surface with a dark orange 

 colored cortex, a pale yellow wood, and a large hollow pith; inodor- 

 ous; taste bitter. 



HELLEBORUS NIGER. Black Hellebore. The rhizome and 

 roots of the Christmas or New Year's Rose, Helleborus niger (Fam. 

 Ranunculacese) a perennial herb indigenous to the forests of the east- 

 ern and southern Alps and also cultivated. It produces pinkish 

 flowers during the winter, or very early in the spring, long before any 

 other plant flowers. 



Description. Rhizome horizontal, with numerous short, knotty 

 branches and moderately long roots; from 2 to 8 cm. in length and 

 0.5 to 4 cm. in diameter; externally grayish- or brownish-black, 

 upper surface with numerous stem bases and depressed circular 

 scars, under and side portions with numerous root bases; fracture 

 short and mealy; internally light yellow, showing a number of broad 

 wood wedges; odor distinct; taste bitter. 



Roots from 0.5 to 6 cm. in length and from 2 to 3 mm. in thick- 

 ness; yellowish or dark brown, with a thick light brown cortex and 

 a narrow central, porous, yellowish wood. 



Inner Structure. An epidermal layer consisting of reddish- 

 brown thick-walled cells; cortex made up of about 30 rows of starch- 

 bearing parenchyma, having very thick walls; leptome in the form 

 of broad plates near the cambium; xylem in long wedges consisting 

 mostly of porous tracheae surrounded by wood parenchyma; med- 

 ullary rays from 10 to 20 cells in width and resembling the paren- 

 chyma cells of cortex and pith. In the parenchyma cells there also 

 occurs a fixed oil, and a few secretion cells having a colorless or 

 slightly yellowish balsamic substance. Tracheae often filled with a 

 reddish-brown amorphous substance. In the epidermal layer of 

 the root the outer walls are yellowish-brown, considerably thickened 

 and lamellated; cortex of starch-bearing parenchyma and light 

 yellowish oil secretion cells; the stele is 5-rayed, consisting mostly 

 of small tracheae. 



Constituents. Two crystalline glucosides: helleborin, a narcotic 

 poison with a burning taste, and helleborein, a cardiac stimulant and 

 having a sweetish taste. The former gives a violet red "color with 

 concentrated sulphuric acid and the latter a deep violet color with 

 the same reagent. The drug also contains a volatile oil, two acrid 

 resins, an acrid fixed oil, aconitic acid and gallates of calcium and 

 potassium. 



