Hĕl'le-bōre, n.

n. [Gr. ἐλλέβορος, Lat. helleborus, Fr. hellébore, ellébore.] (Bot.) A plant used in medicine.

☞— The black hellebore, Christmas-rose, or Christmas-flower, is of the genus Helleborus (H. niger), and the white hellebore, of the genus Veratrum (V. album). Both are acrid and poisonous, and are used in medicine as evacuants and alteratives. Among the ancients, a plant to which the name was given was held to cure insanity; it was H. officinalis, or orientalis. Its purgative properties may have rendered it useful in cases of insanity.