HELLEBORUS NIGER. BLACK HELLEBORE. 
Class XIII. POLYANDRIA.— Order YI. POLYGYNIA. 
Natural Order, RANUNCULAC^l. THE CROW-FOOT TRIBE. 
Black Hellebore, so called from the dark colour of the root, is a perennial plant growing sponta- 
neously on the rocky and woody mountains of many parts of Europe, especially in Austria, Carniolia, 
Italy, and Greece, and cultivated in our Gardens as an ornamental plant, flowering in mild seasons, from 
December till March, whence it has obtained the name of Christmas rose. The date of its introduction is 
unknown ; but it appears to have been cultivated in Britain by Gerarde as early as 1596. In the old editions 
of our dispensatories, it is termed “ Melampodium.” Anticyra, now Asprospizzia, a city in Phocis, situated 
near Mount Oeta, was famous among the ancients for the Hellebore which it produced ; it was of the best 
quality, and reckoned a specific for many diseases, particularly for insanity; hence arose the proverb, “Na- 
viget Anticyram,” send the madman a voyage to Anticyra. Thus the Roman poet : — 
Danda est ellebori multo pars maxima avaris : 
Nescio an Antycyram ratio illis destinet omnem. 
Hor. Sat. iii. lib. ii. 
“ By far the largest portion of Hellebore is to be administered to the covetous : I know not whether reason 
does not consign all Anticyra for their use.” 
The root, which is the part used in medicine, consists of numerous depending fibres, issuing from a 
rough transverse knotty head, externally of a blackish colour, internally white or yellowish. The leaves are 
large, composed of five, six, or more leaflets of a deep green colour, and spring directly from the root on 
long cylindrical petioles, smooth and dotted with red ; the leaflets are ovate-lanceolate, smooth, shining, and 
coriaceous, with the distal, half of each slightly serrated. The flower-stalk is a scape, six or eight inches 
long, erect, round, variegated with red, and supporting one or two flowers. The bracteas, or floral leaves, 
are ovate and indented at the edges. The calyx consists of five large, roundish concave sepals, at first white, 
or of a pale rose colour, deepening by age, and finally becoming green, after the impregnation of the seed. 
The petals are tubular, and two lipped. The filaments are numerous, from 30 to 60 in number, capillary, 
and supporting yellow anthers. The germens, about six or eight in number, become pods, containing many 
black shining seeds. 
Adulterations. — It appears that the merchants of Frankfort and of Hamburgh frequently substitute 
the roots of the Aconitum neomontanum, Adonis vernalis, Helleborus viridis, Trollius europceus, Actaea spi- 
cata, and some other plants, for those of Helleborus niger ; but these may in general be distinguished by 
their paler colour. 
Qualities and Chemical Properties. — The fibres of the roots, which are the parts employed, 
are of the size of a small quill ; corrugated ; of a colour approaching to black on the outside ; and of a 
yellowish white within. Their odour is disagreeable. Both the virtues and properties of the root are im- 
paired by keeping : but when fresh, their taste is penetrating ; and though neither bitter nor very hot, it 
leaves a lasting impression in the mouth ; and has a remarkable effect on the tongue, as observed long ago 
by Grew, in his work on Tastes. “ The root being chewed, and for some time retained upon the tongue, 
after a few minutes it seemeth to be benumbed, and affected with a kind of paralytic stupor ; or as when it 
hath been a little burnt with eating or supping any thing too hot.” M. M. Feneulle and Capron have lately 
analysed the root, but were unable to discover any alkali in its active principle, similar to that which is 
yielded by the white Hellebore : a plant, however, that belongs to a very different order, notwithstanding 
the similarity of the common name. The following are its constituents, viz. a volatile oil, a fatty matter, a 
resin, wax, a volatile acid, a bitter principle, mucus, alumina, gallate of potash, acidulous gallate of lime, 
and a salt, with an ammoniacal base. Alcohol appears to extract its virtues most efficiently ; from which it 
would appear, that they depend principally on its resinous part. A watery extract, also, possesses both its 
purgative and diuretic qualities: and its irritating properties are considerably lessened by boiling. 
From the experiments of Feneulle and Capron, as detailed in the Journal de Pharmacie, (vii. 503,) it 
would seem, that the active and deleterious principle of the Hellebores is an acid contained in the oily 
matter. Both the Helleborus viridis and hyemalis possess similar properties to the Helleborus Niger, only 
in a less degree; but the Helleborus fretidus is more potent than either. 
