HELLEBORUS FCETIDUS. 
65 
OfF. The Root. 
Off. Pp. Extractum Hellebori nigri, E.D. 
Tinctura Hellebori nigri, L.E.D. 
HELLEBORUS FCETIDUS. 
Foetid Hellebore, Bears-foot, or Setter-wort.^ 
Class PoLYANDRiA. — Order Polygynia. 
Nat. Ord. Multisiliqu^., Linn. Ranunculaceje, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Calyx 0. Corolla petals 5 or 6. Nectaries 
equal in number to the petals. 
Spec. Char. Stem many flowered, leafy. Leaves pedate, 
glabrous. Petals converging. 
This species of hellebore grows wild in many parts of England, 
flowering early in the spring in mild seasons. It delights in moist 
shady situations, and in its wild state is most frequently to be met 
with in woods, Bear's-foot is found in great plenty in many parts 
of Sussex, Norfolk, and the North of England ; it has been long 
cultivated in our gardens for the sake of its early flowers. 
The root of this species of hellebore is small, and beset with 
a prodigious number of slender dark-coloured fibres; the stem rises 
to the height of a foot and a half, or more ; towards the bottom, it is 
round, strong, firm, naked, and marked with alternate cicatrices, the 
vestiges of the former leaves ; at the top it divides, and is subdivided 
into branches, producing many flowers, garnished with scaly leaves, 
or bracteas ; the leaves are numerous, and stand upon long foot-stalks, 
surrounding the middle of the stem: they are divided, like the pre- 
ceding species, into simple leaves, which are commonly eight or nine ; 
long, narrow, lanceolated, serrated, and of a dark green colour : 
the scaly leaves, placed at the ramification of the flower-stems, are 
smooth, trifid, alternate, and often purplish, but those near the 
flower, are oval and pointed ; the flowers are numerous, terminal, 
pendent, of a roundish shape, and stand upon peduncles, forming 
a sort of panicle ; the petals are generally five, oval, concave, per- 
* Fig. a. represents a sprig of the natural size. b. The capsule, or pods. c. The 
stamens and nectaries somewhat magnified. 
VOL. I. K 
