Veratrum

(ve-ra'trùm.) (Bot.) A genus of the O. Melanthacer, consisting of perennial herbs with creeping roots, ovate pointed leaves, and panicles of polygam ons flowers. They are remarkable for their powerfully acrid properties. V. album (Fig. 667) of Europe, and V. viride of N. America, are called White Hellebore. Their rootstocks, collected for medicinal purposes, are extremely acrid, and in poisonous doses pro-duce inflammation of the stomach and bowels,and finally insensibility and death. Fig. 667.- WHITE HELLEBORE. [s. 934]