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

Among other philosophers, one of the most famous disputants of antiquity, Carneades, was accustomed to take copious doses of white hellebore, a great aperient, as a preparation to refute the dogmas of the stoics.

From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 2 by Isaac Disraeli

The powdered root of white hellebore is said to destroy both this grub and the caterpillars of the gooseberry moth and V-moth; infusion of foxglove, and tobacco-water, are likewise tried by some growers.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2 "Gloss" to "Gordon, Charles George" by Various

It was eventually discovered that powdered white hellebore was a specific remedy.

From Success with Small Fruits by Edward Payson Roe

To one pailful of wood-ashes, add one quart each of white hellebore and flowers of sulphur; mix thoroughly; apply by sifting on the bushes while the dew is on them.

From Success with Small Fruits by Edward Payson Roe

Vomits of white hellebore or antimony, and purges of black hellebore or aloes, are prescribed.

From Chapters in the History of the Insane in the British Isles by Daniel Hack Tuke