_American White Hellebore_,[2597] _Indian Poke_.
=Botanical Origin=—_Veratrum viride_ Aiton, a plant in every respect
closely resembling _V. album_, of which it is one of the numerous
forms. In fact, the green-coloured variety of the latter (_V.
Lobelianum_ Bernh.), a plant not uncommon in the mountain meadows
of the Alps, comes so near to the American _V. viride_ that we are
unable to point out any important character by which the two can be
separated.[2598] The American _Veratrum_ is common in swamps and low
grounds from Canada to Georgia.
[2596] For good specimens of which I am indebted to Dr. Weppen.—F. A. F.
[2597] The name _Green Hellebore_ is sometimes applied to this drug,
but it properly belongs to _Helleborus viridis_ L., which is medicinal
in some parts of Europe.
[2598] Sims in contrasting _Veratrum viride_ with _V. album_ observes
that the flowers of the former are “more inclined to a yellow green,”
the petals broader and more erect, with the margins, especially
about the claw, thickened and covered with a white mealiness. _Bot.
Mag._ xxvii. (1808) tab. 1096.—Regel has described four varieties of
_Veratrum album_ L., as occurring in the region of the Lower Ussuri and
Amurland, one of which, var. γ., he has identified with the American
_V. viride_.—_Tentamen Floræ Ussuriensis_, St. Petersb. 1761. 153.
=History=—The aborigines of North America were acquainted with
the active properties of this plant before their intercourse with
Europeans, using it according to Josselyn,[2599] who visited the
country in 1638-1671, as a vomit in a sort of ordeal. He calls it
_White Hellebore_, and states that it is employed by the colonists as a
purgative, antiscorbutic and insecticide.
Kalm (1749) states[2600] that the early settlers used a decoction of
the roots to render their seed-maize poisonous to birds, which were
made “delirious” by eating the grain, but not killed; and this custom
was still practised in New England in 1835 (Osgood).
The effects of the drug have been repeatedly tried in the United States
during the present century; and about 1862, in consequence of the
strong recommendations of Drs. Osgood, Norwood, Cutter, and others, it
began to be prescribed in this country.
=Description=—In form, internal structure, odour and taste, the rhizome
and roots accord with those of _Veratrum album_; yet owing to the
method of drying and preparing for the market, the American veratrum
is immediately distinguishable from the White Hellebore of European
commerce. We have met with it in three forms:—
1. The rhizome with roots attached, usually cut lengthwise into
quarters, sometimes transversely also, densely beset with the pale
brown roots, which towards their extremities are clothed with slender
fibrous rootlets.
2. Rhizome and roots compressed into solid rectangular cakes, an inch
in thickness.
3. The rhizome _per se_, sliced transversely and dried. It forms
whitish, buff, or brownish discs, ½ to 1 inch or more in diameter, much
shrunken and curled by drying. This is the form in which the drug is
required by the United States Pharmacopœia.
=Chemical Composition=—No chemical difference between _Veratrum viride_
and _V. album_ has yet been ascertained. The presence of veratrine,
suspected by previous chemists, was asserted by Worthington[2601] in
1839, J. G. Richardson of Philadelphia in 1857, and S. R. Percy in
1864. Scattergood[2602] obtained from the American drug 0·4 per cent.
of this alkaloid, which however, in consequence of some observations
of Dragendorff (p. 694), we must hold to be not identical with that
of cebadilla. As stated in a previous page jervine and veratroïdine
are present as in the White Hellebore of Europe. Robbins[2603] further
isolated _Veratridine_, a crystallized alkaloid possessed of a similar
physiological action to that of veratrine, though in a less degree.
Veratridine is readily soluble in ether; its solution in concentrated
sulphuric acid is at first yellow, changing quickly to a pink-red, and,
after several hours’ standing, assumes a clear indigo-blue colour, much
the same as that displayed by veratrine _if mixed with sugar_ (Weppen’s
test, 1874). The resin of the drug may be prepared by exhausting
it with alcohol and precipitating with boiling acidulated water,
repeating the process in order to entirely eliminate the alkaloids. It
is a dark brown mass, yielding about a fourth of its weight to ether.
Scattergood obtained it to the extent of 4½ per cent. By exhausting the
drug successively with ether, absolute alcohol and spirit of wine, we
extracted from it not less than 31 per cent. of a soft resinoid mass.
Worthington pointed out the presence of gallic acid and of sugar.
[2599] _New England’s Rarities discovered_, Lond. 1672. 43; also
_Account of two Voyages to New England_, Lond., 1674, 60. 76.
[2600] _Travels in North America_, vol. ii. (1771) 91.
[2601] _Am. Journ. of Pharm._ iv. (1839) 89.
[2602] _Proc. of Am. Pharm. Assoc._ 1862. 226.
[2603] _Ibid._, 1877. 439. 523.
=Uses=—_Veratrum viride_ has of late been much recommended as a
cardiac, arteral and nervous sedative. It is stated to lower the pulse,
the respiration and beat of the body, not to be narcotic, and rarely
to occasion purging;[2604] but to what principle these effects are due
has not yet been ascertained. By some observers, as Bigelow,[2605]
Fée,[2606] Schroff,[2607] and Oulmont,[2608] it is alleged to have the
same medicinal powers as the European _Veratrum album_.