Pharmacographia : a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin, met with in Great Britain and British India / by Friedrich A. Flückiger and Daniel Hanbury.

  • Flückiger, Friedrich A. (Friedrich August), 1828-1894.
Date:
1874
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Pharmacographia : a history of the principal drugs of vegetable origin, met with in Great Britain and British India / by Friedrich A. Flückiger and Daniel Hanbury. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    L—FHJSNOGAMOVS or FLOWERING PLANTS. EANUNCULACE^. RADIX HELLEBORI NIGRI. Eadix Ellebori nigri, Radix Melampodii; Black Hellehore Boot; r. Bacine d'Ellebore noir; G. Schwarze Nieswurzel. Botanical Origin—Helleborus niger L., a low perennial herb, native of sub-alpine woods in Southern and Eastern Europe. It is found in Provence, Northern Italy, Salzburg, Bavaria, Austria, Bohemia, and Silesia, as well as, according to Boissier, ^ in Continental Gl-reece. Under the name of Christmas Bose, it is often grown in Eno-]ish gardens on account of its handsome white flowers, which are put forth in mid-winter. History—The story of the daughters of Prcetus, king of Argos, being cured of madness by the soothsayer and physician Melampus, who administered to them hellebore, has imparted great celebrity to the plant under notice.^ But admitting that the medicine of Melampus was reaUy the root of a species of Helleborus, its identity with that of the present plant is extremely improbable. Several other species grow in Greece and Asia Minor, and Schroff^ has endeavoured to show that of these, H. orientalis Lam. possesses medicinal powers agreeing better with' the ancient accounts than those of H. niger L. He has also pointed out that the aucients employed not the entire root but only the bark separated from the woody column ; and that in H. niger and H. viridis the peelino- of the rhizome is impossible, but that in R. orientalis it may be easilv etlected. b^o the list of theses and memoirs on 1860, No. 25: Canstatt's Jahresherirht fni- HeUebore given by M^rat and De Lens 1859 i. 47.-1860 i 55 Bid. iii. 472, 473.