white hellebore

American  

[hwahyt hel-uh-bawr, wahyt] / ˈʰwaɪt ˈhɛl əˌbɔr, ˈwaɪt /

noun

1. a false hellebore, Veratrum album, with clusters of white flowers, native to Europe and western Asia: now rarely used in medicine, its alkaloids were once used in a number of treatments, as for high blood pressure, but accidental poisoning is due mostly to the plant’s resemblance to an ingestible European gentian.

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Etymology

Origin of white hellebore

First recorded in 1400–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

white hellebore

The treatment consisted of the application of belladonna and cantharides plasters, bismuth, and lime-water, camphor, and salts of white hellebore inhaled through the nose in finest powder.

From Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by Pyle, Walter L. (Walter Lytle)

For this purpose, aloes, tartrate of antimony, white hellebore, etc., are used.

From Cattle and Their Diseases Embracing Their History and Breeds, Crossing and Breeding, And Feeding and Management; With the Diseases to which They are Subject, And The Remedies Best Adapted to their Cure by Jennings, Robert

Powdered white hellebore, dusted on the foliage, or the solution of whale oil soap mentioned for the Rose Thrip, will keep it in check.

From Making a Rose Garden by Saylor, Henry H. (Henry Hodgman)

This is a white, yellowish powder made from the roots of the white hellebore plant.

From Manual of Gardening (Second Edition) by Bailey, L. H. (Liberty Hyde)

They bought five cents' worth of white hellebore, which is a powder, and sprinkled it on the ground in a circle about the stems of the young plants.

From The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. by Shaw, Ellen Eddy