HELLEBORE 227 



HELLEBORUS VIRIDIS. Radix Hellebori Viridis, Rhizoma Helle- 

 bori Viridis, or Green Hellebore. The rhizome and roots of 

 Green Hellebore or Christmas Flower, Helleborous viridis (Fam. 

 Ranunculaceae), a perennial herb indigenous to central and 

 southern Europe and naturalized to some extent in the Middle 

 Atlantic States. 



Description. Rhizome, horizontal or oblique, with numerous 

 short branches and brittle roots; from 3 to 6 cm. in length and about 

 1 cm. in thickness; outer surface blackish-brown, annulate from leaf- 

 scars, upper surface with stem bases about 1 dm. in length; fracture 

 horny; bark thick, grayish-white and xylem with from 6 to 16 yel- 

 lowish wood wedges; odor slight, when fresh, penetrating; taste 

 bitter, becoming acrid. Roots about 2 mm. in diameter, with a 

 thick cortex and a 4-rayed central xylem. 



Inner Structure. Epidermis of brownish cells with strongly 

 thickened outer walls; a layer of collenchyma; primary cortex of 

 tangentially elongated starch-bearing parenchymatous cells; inner 

 bark with the strands of leptome separated by broad medullary 

 rays; wood consisting of radial rows of short reticulate tracheae, 

 surrounded by thin-walled wood-parenchyma and separated by broad 

 medullary rays; pith cells resembling those of cortex. Roots having 

 a starch-bearing cortical parenchyma, an endodermis, a thin-walled 

 pericycle and collateral vascular bundles. Starch grains small, 

 spheroidal; oil secretion cells colored yellow with solutions of potas- 

 sium hydrate; resinous secretion cells colored orange-red with iodin. 

 Cell walls of parenchyma more or less modified to pectin. 



Constituents. It contains the same principles as H. niger, the 

 helleborein apparently predominating. 



Literature. Vogl, Pharmakognosie. 



ADONIS. Herba Adonidis, False Hellebore. The over-ground 

 plant of the spring-flowering Adonis, Adonis vernalis (Fam. 

 Ranunculacese), a low perennial herb indigenous to eastern and 

 southern Europe and more or less cultivated. The herb is gathered 

 during April or May, at the time of flowering, dried and made into 

 bundles. 



Description. Stem, cylindrical, more or less branching, sharply 

 wrinkled and somewhat hairy, with a few blackish-lanceolate leaf 

 scales at the base. Foliage leaves, numerous, sessile,' clasping the 



side of a lateral vein. F, surface view of the dorsal or lower epidermis of a 

 leaflet showing the stomata and foldings of lateral cell walls. After Holm, 

 Merck's Report, 1911, p. 4. 



