NAT. ORDER. 
Hanunculaceoe. 
HELLEBOKUS VIRIDIS. GEEEN HELLEBOEE. 
Class XIII. PoLYANDRiA. Order III. Polygynia. 
Gen.. Char. Calyx, permanent. Petals^ eig'ht to ten. Stamens^ 
thirty to sixty. Stigmas, terminal, orbicular. 
Spc. Char. Leaves, radical, very smooth. Peduncles, bifid. Sepals, 
roundish-ovate, green. 
This species of hellebore has a round, delicate stem, a little 
branched near the top, but not near as much as the other varieties ; 
leafy, reddish at the base, upright, smooth, and from a foot to eighteen 
inches in height ; the leaves are soft, and of a light pea-green color ; 
those from the bottom are on long petioles, but those on the stem sit 
close to their sheaths ; the leaflets are from seven to ten in number, 
lanceolate, acuminate, sharply serrate, smooth, gashed, usually trifid, 
the divisions sometimes deeply lobed ; and at the base of each pedun- 
cle is a similar leaf, only smaller ; the peduncles are axillary, an inch 
long, round, supporting one and two nodding green flowers. It is said 
to be a native of France, but is found in many parts of the United 
States. Large quantities of this plant I have found growing on the 
north side of Great Hills, (so called by the inhabitants,) in the town 
of Leverett, Franklin county, Mass. 
Medical Properties and Uses. Haller reckons up all the reputed 
virtues of Hellebore under this species ; and indeed seems to be what 
German practitioners have substituted for the true plant of the ancients, 
Ilelleborus orientalis. We learn from the Flora Londinensis, that the 
Vol. IV.— 152 
