THE 
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHARMACY. 
JULY, 1848. 
ART. XXXVIIL— ON BLACK HELLEBORE, (HELLEBORUS 
NIGER.) 
By Joseph CarsoNj M. D., &c. 
Helleborus Niger. Linnseus. 
Nat. System. — Ranunculi. Jussieu. Ranunmlacece. De Cand. 
Sex. System. — Polyandria, Polygynia. 
Gen. Character. — Ca /i/a:persistentj of five sepals, roundish, obtuse, 
large, usually green. Petals eight to ten, very short, tubular, narrow, 
and nectariferous beneath. Stamens XYiixiy to sixty-four. Ownes three 
to ten. Stigmas terminal, orbicular. Capsules coriaceous. Seeds in a 
double row, elliptical, uncibilicated. De CandoUe. 
Specific Character. — Rhizoma black, tuberculated, horizontal, 
scaly, with many dependent fibres, whitish internally. Leaves all 
radical, on cylindrical stalks from 4 to 8 inches long; pedate, quite 
smooth, and almost evergreen, of a strong, firm texture, pale green and 
shining above, pale, and strongly reficulated beneath ; lobes cuneate 
obovate, entire and unequal at the base, coarsely serrated at the point. 
Scape shorter than the petiole, 1 — 2 flowered, with ovate lacerated bracts 
immediately beneath the calyx. Sepals 5-ovate or roundish; large, white, 
slightly tinged with pink, eventually becoming green. Petals green, 
tubular, shorter than the stamens. Carpels 6 — 8, follicular, many seeded. 
Lindley. 
Black hellebore is one of the most active of a family con- 
taining a number of exceedingly energetic plants. They 
present sufficient points of alliance to be retained in one 
class, Ranunculaceae, but yet so much differ as to require 
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