PHAEMACOGRAPHIA. 



L-PH^NOGAMOUS or FLOWERING PLANTS. 



RANUNCULACE^. 



RADIX HELLEBORI NIGRI. 



Radix Ellehori nigri, Radix Mela^npodii ; Black Hellebore Root; 

 F. Racine dEllehore noir ; G. Schvjarze Nieswuvzel. 



Botanical Origin — Helleboinis niger L., a low perennial herb, 

 native of sub-alpine woods in Southern and Eastern Europe. It is 

 found in Provence, Northern Italy, Salzburg, Bavaria, Austria, 

 Bohemia, and Silesia, as well as, according to Boissier,i in Continental 

 Greece. 



Under the name of Chinstmas Rose, it is often gi-own in English 

 gardens on account of its handsome white flowers, which are put forth 

 in inid-winter. 



History — The story of the daughters of Proetus, king of Argos, 

 being cured of madness by the soothsayer and physician Melampus, 

 who administered to them hellebore, has imparted great celebrity to 

 the plant under notice." 



But admitting that the medicine of Melampus was really the root of 

 a species of Hellehorus, its identity with that of the present plant is 

 extremely improbable. Several other species grow in Greece and Asia 

 Minor, and Schroft"* has endeavoured to show that of these, H. arien- 

 talis Lam. possesses medicinal powers agreeing better with the ancient 

 accourits than those of H. niger L. He has also pointed out that the 

 ancients employed not the entire root but only the bark separated from 

 the woody column; and that in H. niger and H. viridis the peeling of 

 the rhizome is impossible, but that in H. arientalis it may be easily 

 effected. 



1 Flora Orientalis, i. (1867) 61. * Zeitschr. d. Gesellsck. d. Aerzte zu Wien. 



- See the list of theses and memoirs on 1860, No. 25 ; Canstatt's JahresberidU for 



Hellebore given by Merat and De Lens, 1859. L 47. 1860. i. 55. 

 Met. iiL (1831) 47-2, 473. 



