NAT. ORDER. 
Ranunculacece. 
HELLEBORUS ORIENT ALIS. BEAR'S-FOOT HELLEBORE. 
Class XIII. Polyandria. Order III. Polygynia. 
Gen. Char. Calyx, wanting. Corolla, six-petalled. Stamens, six. 
Pistils, three. Capsules, three, many-sided. 
Spe. Char. Raceme, more than decomposed. Corollas, erect. 
The root is small, but beset with an innumerable number of 
slender dark-colored fibres : the stem rises to the height of two or 
three feet ; near 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 subdivides into branches, producing many- 
flowers, and is garnished with scaly leaves' or bractese ; the leaves 
are numerous, and stand upon long footstalks, surrounding the 
middle of the stem ; they are divided, like the Helleborus niger, 
into simple leaves, which are usually eight or nine in number, 
long, narrow, lanceolated, serrated, and of a dark green color ; 
the scaly leaves, placed at the ramifications of the flower stem, are 
smooth, trifid, alternate, and often purplish ; but those near the 
flowers are oval and pointed ; the jlowers are numerous, terminal, 
pendent, of a roundish shape, and stand upon peduncles, forming 
a sort of umbel ; the petals are six, oval, concave, persistent, of a 
pale green pink color, and their margins sometimes tinged with 
purple ; the stamens are about the length of the petals ; the anthers 
are white ; the germens three, hairy, and shaped similarly to those 
of the Helleborus niger. This plant is said to be a native of Eng- 
Vol iii.— 48 
