HELLEBORUS ORIENTALIS— ORIENTAL OR TRUE OFFICINAL HELLEBORE. 
Class XIII. POLYANDRIA.— Order VI. POLYGYNIA. 
Natural Order, RANUNCULAC/E. THE CROW-FOOT TRIBE. 
Fig. (a) represents a perfect flower, with the petals removed; (6) a single petal, to show three of the nectaries at its base; 
(c) the germens attached to the receptacle. 
We have great pleasure in being able to present our readers with a correct figure of this rare plant, made 
from the most admirable drawing by Mr. Ferdinand Bauer for the Flora Graeca, and published in vol. i. 
fasc. v. of that celebrated work. The plant, was gathered on Mount Athos, Delphi, and Mount Olympus 
in Anatolia, on the hills, near Thessalonia, and abundantly near Constantinople, by Dr. Sibthorp, formerly 
Professor of Botany in the University of Oxford. Tournefort justly supposes his Helleborus niger orien- 
talis, amplissimo folio, caule pracalto, flore purpurascente, to be the Hellebore of the ancients, as he found 
it in the island of Anticyra, famous for the production of this medicine. 
The root is perennial, somewhat fleshy, black externally, and surrounded with many very long, dark- 
coloured, simple fibres. The stem is very tall, round, smooth, leafy, and of a purplish colour. The radical 
leaves are stalked, very large, pedate, composed of about nine elliptic, oblong, serrate, pointed lobes, of a 
dark green colour on the upper surface, and paler, hairy, and veined underneath ; those on the stem nu- 
merous, on roundish, smooth foot-stalks, channelled above, sheathing at the base, and slightly hairy below. 
The flower-stalks, which are axillary or terminal, and accompanied by numerous fringed, serrated, leafy 
bracteas, do not rise above the leaves, but are branched, bearing five or six drooping, concave flowers, of a 
greenish or whitish colour, turning purple as they fade. The petals are five, roundish, concave, and per- 
sistent ; the nectaries are numerous, placed in a circle within the petals, deciduous, each of one leaf, tubular, 
compressed, with a reflected lip, and their base attenuated. The stamens are numerous, thread-like, with 
oblong anthers. The germens, which are five, of an oblong shape, terminated by the styles, become beaked 
pods, containing several seeds. 
Medical Properties and Uses. — The roots of this species of Hellebore, formerly called Melam- 
podium from their black colour, are acrid and violently cathartic. They have been supposed to be useful 
in maniacal cases, epilepsy, paralysis, hypochondriasis, dropsies, and a variety of other diseases ; but as the 
genuine oriental plant may not be easily accessible to us, it is useful to know that the Helleborus viridis is 
the safest substitute for it, though less active; while the H .fcetidus, which has sometimes been used by 
fraud or mistake, is more violent and dangerous. We learn from Mr. Curtis, in his Flora Londinensis, 
that great quantities of the roots of H. viridis are annually sent up from the country, and used for the true 
black Hellebore. It has also been conjectured that their qualities are the same ; for this species is more 
nearly allied to the ancient Greek plant than the Helleborus fcetidus. A full account of the Medical pro- 
perties and uses of Hellebore has been already given, under Art. Helleborus niger, which, till lately, was 
supposed to be the drug used by the ancients.* 
We subjoin the following extract from a work on Poisons, by Mr. A. S. Taylor, Lecturer on Chemistry, 
&c. at Guy’s Hospital, a gentleman whose valuable productions, indefatigable research, and important dis- 
coveries, have conferred great usefulness on medical science: — 
“The Narcotico-irritant poisons are derived from the vegetable kingdom. Their effects on the body 
are of a mixed character, since both the brain and alimentary canal are liable to be affected by them. 
In order to prove fatal, they require to be exhibited commonly in large doses. The symptoms in most 
cases appear in about an hour; but sometimes they may be delayed for many hours. This has been 
especially noticed with regard to poisonous mushrooms. The symptoms commonly observed are vertigo, 
coma, delirium, paralysis or convulsions: such at least are the effects resulting from Monkshood (Aconite) 
and Deadly Nightshade (Belladonna.) These poisons have in general a strong and well-marked taste, so 
that they cannot be criminally administered without suspicion being excited, or without detection. Murder 
by Monkshood has been accomplished by the criminal substitution of the leaves of this plant for other 
vegetables at a meal. 
* Medical Botany. 
