1024 MINNESOTA BOTANICAL STUDIES. 



LI. THE ALKALOIDS* OF VERATEU3I. I. 



George B. Frankforter. 



HISTORICAL. 



The genus Veratrum is represented in Minnesota by Veratrum 

 viride Ait., a plant reported from Stearns county by Garrison, 

 and probably distributed over the northern portion of the 

 state. While not apparently abundant, it could doubtless be 

 made to grow under cultivation throughout Minnesota, for its 

 general range in North America is a broad one. The popular 

 name of the plant is Hellebore. 



The substance commonly known in pharmacy as veratrine, 

 varies widely in its composition, chemical, physical and phys- 

 iological properties. Until recently it has been exceedingly 

 difficult to obtain different samples with the same general 

 properties. The introduction of the so-called "Merck verat- 

 rine" has changed matters somewhat, although samples of the 

 Merck alkaloid have been found to vary considerably in their 

 general properties. 



One of the chief causes of this exceptional variation is the 

 extreme difficulty with which the alkaloid crystallizes, thus 

 almost excluding one of the most important means of purifica- 

 tion. Another, and perhaps the most important reason for 

 this wide variation, lies in the fact that almost every one of the 

 early investigators of the "veratria" has given the name to a 

 different alkaloid or to a mixture of alkaloids. 



In 1819 Pelletier and Caventou 1 obtained from Veratrum 

 sabadilla an amorphous base, which was afterwards shown to 

 be a mixture of several alkaloids. For some time this was sold 

 as a medicine under the name "veratria." 



Later Couerbe 2 in an examination of the sabadilla, obtained 

 three distinct alkaloidal substances. One of these, the most 

 abundant, was amorphous but formed acrystallizable sulphate 



(1) Annal. de Chim. et de Physique [111 14: 69. 

 (2) Annal. de Chim et de Physique [II] 52 :352. 



