HELLEBORUS NIGER (Hell. nig.)

Botanical name : Helleborus niger Linn. Family:

Synonyms : Elleborum nigrum, Helleborus grandiflorus Salisb., Veratrum nigrum Salisb.

Common names : Hindi: Khorasani kutki; English: Black , ; French: Ellebore noir; German: Sohwarze Uieswurzel.

Description : A perennial, having brownish-black, knotted, brittle, fleshy rhizome, 2.5 to 7.5 cm long, 6 to 12 mm thick. on long stalks, which spring directly from the root. Stalks are cylindrical, tapering, smooth, shinning and pale green, mottled with red. Leaves pedate, deeply divided into several nearly separate lobes, coarsely seriate in the upper part, dark green above, paler beneath. Flowers on a scape shorter than petiole, at first pinkish-white, becoming green.

Macroscopical : The drug occurs in irregularly branched, blackish pieces from 3.0 to 6.0 cm in length and from 5 to 8 mm in diameter. The branches show encircling scars and the remains of the aerial stem or buds.

Microscopical : Transverse sections of the rhizome shows considerable variations, 4 to 12 or more vascular bundles often of widely different shapes.

Habitat : Found in alpine regions.

History and authority : Introduced by Hahnemann in 1805. Allen’s Encyclop. Mat. Med. Vol. IV, 547.

Part used : Rhizome. Moisture content of fresh rhizome 200 ml per 100 g solids.

Preparation : (a) Mother Tincture φ Drug strength 1/10 Helleborus Niger in coarse powder 100 g Purified Water 400 ml Strong Alcohol 635 ml to make one thousand millilitres of the Mother Tincture.

(b) Potencies: 2x contain one part tincture, three parts purified water and six parts Strong Alcohol. 3x and higher with Dispensing Alcohol.

Old method : Class IV.