CRUDE DRUGS. 495 



vixE, both of which are found in Veratrum album; a small 

 quantity of veratrine, that occurs as an amorphous, resinous 

 mass which is colored yellow with concentrated sulphuric acid, the 

 solution becoming deep red (thus resembling protoveratrine) ; and 

 VERATALBINE, an amorphous alkaloid. Veratroidine is now con- 

 sidered to be a mixture of amorphous bases. 



Allied Plants. — The rhizome of Veratrum viridifolium, a 

 plant with greenish flowers growing in the mountainous districts 

 of Europe and Northern Asia, contains jervine and veratroidine. 

 The rhizome of Veratrum nigrum, a plant with purplish-red 

 flowers, indigenous to Middle and Eastern Europe, Siberia, Man- 

 churia and Japan, contains jervine. 



Sabadilla seeds are the source of the official veratrine. They 

 are obtained from Schccnocaulon officinale (Fam. Liliacese), a 

 bulbous plant indigenous to Mexico and the West Indies. The 

 seeds are brownish-black, 5 to 8 mm. long, narrow, angular, flat, 

 beaked and have a very bitter and acrid taste. They are fre- 

 quently exported from Mexico in the small trilocular dehiscent 

 capsules there being 3 to 6 seeds in each loculus. They contain 

 about I per cent, of a mixture of alkaloids known as veratrine. 

 This consists of cevadine and veratrine (veratridine), both of 

 which are found in the rhizome of Veratrum viride, and three 

 other alkaloids : cevadilline, sabadine and sabadinine, the two latter 

 being crystalline. 



The bulbs of Death C.\mas (Zygadenus vencnosns) , known 

 to the Nez Perce Indians as " Wa-i-mas," contain the alkaloids 

 veratalbine, sabadine and sabadinine. 



Black Hellebore consists of the rhizome and roots of Hcllc- 

 boriis niger (Fam. Ranunculaceae), a perennial herb indigenous 

 to the Eastern and Southern Alps and also cultivated. The rhizome 

 is 2.5 to 7.5 cm. long, 6 to 12 mm. in diameter; with numerous 

 short, knotty branches and short, brittle roots ; externally, of a 

 grayish-black color ; internally, with a characteristic dicotyle- 

 donous structure ; odor slight ; taste sweet, somewhat bitter and 

 acrid. The drug contains 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 



