PHARMACOGRAPHIA. I-PHÆNOGAMOUS OR FLOWERING PLANTS. Dicotyledons and Gymnosperms. RANUNCULACEÆ. RADIX HELLEBORI NIGRI. Radix Ellebori nigri, Radix Melampodii; Black Hellebore Root; F. Racine 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,1 in Continental Greece. Under the name of Christmas Rose, it is often grown in English gardens on account of its handsome white flowers, which are put forth in mid-winter. History The story of the daughters of Proetus, 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 really 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. orientulis Lam. possesses medicinal powers agreeing better with the ancient accounts than those of H. niger L. He has also pointed out that the ancients employed not the entire root but only the bark separated from the woody column; and that in H. niger and H. viridis the peeling of the rhizome is impossible, but that in H. orientalis it may be easily effected. 1 Flora Orientalis, i. (1867) 61. * See the list of theses and memoirs on Hellebore given by Mérat and De Lens, Diet. iii. (1831) 472, 473. A 3 Zeitschr. d. Gesellsch. d. Aerzte zu Wien. 1860, No. 25; Canstatt's Jahresbericht for 1859. i. 47. 1860. i. 55. According to the same authority the hellebores differ extremely in their medicinal activity. The most potent is H. orientalis Lam.; then follow H. viridis L. and H. fætidus L. (natives of Britain), and H. purpurascens Waldst. et Kit., a Hungarian species, while H. niger is the weakest of all.1 Description-Black Hellebore produces a knotty, fleshy, brittle rhizome which creeps and branches slowly, forming in the course of years an intangled, interlacing mass, throwing out an abundance of stout, straight roots. Both rhizome and roots are of a blackish brown, but the younger roots are of lighter tint and are covered with a short woolly tomentum. In commerce the rhizome is found with the roots more or less broken off and detached. It is in very knotty irregular pieces, 1 to 2 or 3 inches long and about to of an inch in diameter, internally whitish and of a horny texture. If cut transversely (especially after maceration), it shows a circle of white woody wedges, 8 to 12 in number, surrounded by a thick bark. The roots are unbranched, scarcely of an inch in diameter. The younger, when broken across, exhibit a thick bark encircling a simple woody cord; in the older this cord tends to divide into converging wedges which present a stellate appearance, though not so distinctly as in Actwa. The drug when cut or broken has a slight odour like that of senega. Its taste is bitterish and slightly acrid. Microscopic Structure-The cortical part both of the rhizome and the rootlets exhibits no distinct medullary rays. In the rootlets the woody centre is comparatively small and enclosed by a narrow zone somewhat as in sarsaparilla. A distinct pith occurs in the rhizome but not always in the rootlets, their woody column forming one solid bundle or being divided into several. The tissue contains small starch granules and drops of fatty oil. Chemical Composition-The earlier investigations of Black Hellebore by Gmelin, and Feneulle and Capron, and of Riegel indicated only the presence of the more usual constituents of plants. Bastick, on the other hand, in 1852 obtained from the root a peculiar, non-volatile, crystalline, chemically-indifferent substance which he named Helleborin. It is stated to have a bitter taste and to produce in addition a tingling sensation on the tongue; to be slightly soluble in water, more so in ether, and to dissolve freely in alcohol. Marmé and A. Husemann extracted helleborin (1864) by treating with hot water the green fatty matter which is dissolved out of the root by boiling alcohol. After recrystallization from alcohol, it is obtainable in shining, colourless needles, having the composition C6H4206. It is stated to be highly narcotic. Helleborin appears to be more abundant in H. viridis (especially in the older roots) than in H. niger, and yet to be obtainable only to the extent of 04 per mille. When it is boiled with dilute sulphuric acid, or still better with solution of zinc chloride, it is converted into sugar and Helleboresin, C30H38O4. Marmé and Husemann succeeded in isolating other crystallized principles from the leaves and roots of H. niger and H. viridis, by precipitation with phospho-molybdic acid. They obtained firstly a 1 Between purpurascens and niger, Schroff places L. ponticus A. Br., a plant which Boissier holds to be simply H. orientalis slightly acid glucoside which they named Helleborein. It occurs only in very small proportion, but is rather more abundant in H. niger than in H. viridis. When boiled with a dilute acid, helleboreïn, CHO15, is resolved into Helleboretin, CHO3, of a fine violet colour, and sugar, CHO. It is remarkable that helleboretin has no physiological action, though helleboreïn is stated to be poisonous. An organic acid accompanying helleborin was regarded by Bastick as probably aconitic (equisetic) acid. There is no tannin in hellebore. Uses Black Hellebore is reputed to be a drastic purgative. In British medicine its employment is nearly obsolete, but the drug is still imported from Germany and sold for the use of domestic animals. Adulteration-Black Hellebore root as found in the market is not always to be relied on, and without good engravings it is not easy to point out characters by which its genuineness can be made certain. In fact to ensure its recognition, some pharmacopoeias required that it should be supplied with leaves attached. The roots with which it is chiefly liable to be confounded are the following: 1. Helleborus viridis L.-Although a careful comparison of authenticated specimens reveals certain small differences between the roots and rhizomes of this species and of H. niger, there are no striking characters by which they can be discriminated. The root of H. viridis is far more bitter and acrid than that of H. niger, and it exhibits more numerous drops of fatty oil. In German trade the two drugs are supplied separately, both being in use; but as H. viridis is apparently the rarer plant and its root is valued at 3 to 5 times the price of that of H. niger, it is not likely to be used for sophisticating the latter. 2. Actaea spicata L.-In this plant the rhizome is much thicker; the rootlets broken transversely display a cross or star, as figured in Flückiger's "Grundlagen" (see p. vii.), fig. 64, p. 76. The drug has but little odour; as it contains tannin its infusion is blackened by a persalt of iron, which is not the case with an infusion of Black Hellebore. RHIZOMA COPTIDIS. Radix Coptidis; Coptis Root, Mishmi Bitter, Mishmi Tita. Botanical Origin-Coptis Teeta Wallich, a small herbaceous plant, still but imperfectly known, indigenous to the Mishmi mountains, eastward of Assam. It was first described in 1836 by Wallich.' History--This drug under the name of Malmira is used in Sind for inflammation of the eyes, a circumstance which enabled Pereira to identify it with a substance bearing a nearly similar designation, mentioned by the early writers on medicine, and previously regarded as the root of Chelidonium majus L. Thus we find that Paulus Egineta in the 7th century was acquainted with a knotty root named Mauipàs.3 Rhazes, who according to 3 2 Pharm. Journ. xi. (1852) 204; also Mat. Med. 1.c. 3 See also Meyer, Geschichte der Botanik, ii. (1855) 419. |