8/1/2014 Veratrum album - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veratrum_album 1/1

Veratrum album, commonly known asfalse helleborine , white hellebore ,European white

hellebore , white veratrum; syn. Veratrum lobelianumBernh.[1]), is a poisonous medicinal plant[2][3] of

the Liliaceae (lily family) orMelanthiaceae. It is native to Europe.

Contents [hide]

1 Plant description

2 Uses

3 History

4 References

5 External links

Plant description [edit]

The plant is a perennial herb with a stout vertical rhizome covered with remnants of old leaf sheaths.

The stout, simple stems are 50 to 175 cm tall. They have been mistaken for yellow gentian, Gentiana

lutea, which is used in beverages, resulting in poisoning.[4][5][6]

Resveratrol has been isolated from the plant.[7][8]

Uses [edit]

The root is very poisonous, with a paralyzing effect on the nervous system.[1] In two cases of fatal

poisoning from eating the seeds, the toxins veratridine andcevadine were present in the blood. In 1983

sneezing powders produced from the herb in West Germany were reported to have caused severe

intoxications inScandinavia.[9]

History [edit]

In 2014 it was claimed that Alexander the Great could have been poisoned by a wine made

from Veratrum album.[10][11] Previously it was believed that poisoning due to arsenic or (a mythical

belief) the water of the river Styx may have led to the death of the Greek King of Macedon.

In antiquity, an effective emetic based on white hellebore and a bitter oval seed (which Hahneman

believed was the seed of Erigeron or Senecio) was mixed by the physicians of Antikyra, a city

of Phokis in Greece.[12]