Witnessed by: Western · Unani
Black hellebore (Helleborus niger), of the Ranunculaceae family. Evergreen perennial flowering white in midwinter; native range: mountains of central and southern Europe, on limestone in cool woodland. Globally recognized as kharbaq aswad / kharbaq siyah in Arabic, and Christmas rose, melampode, black hellebore in English. The part used is root and rhizome. A black, knotted, fibrous rootstock, bitter and acrid, biting the throat; the whole plant acrid and dangerous.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
BLACK HELLEBORE
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- black hellebore
- Scientific name
- Helleborus niger L.
- Family
- Ranunculaceae
Form
- Part used
- root and rhizome
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- bitter, acrid
- Unani
- bitter (murr)
Temperature
- Western
- hot
- Unani
- hot & dry (3rd degree)
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- nervous system · bowels · uterus
- Unani
- brain · nerves · uterus · intestines
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- drastic cathartic, emmenagogue, anthelmintic, and an old nervine for mania and dropsy; cardio-active
- Unani
- mus-hil-e-sauda (purge of black bile), munaqqi (cleanser), emmenagogue, for junoon (mania) and malikhulia (melancholia)
Cautions
Contraindications: pregnancy, cardiac disease, and the weak or debilitated
Toxicity: poisonous — a violent purge; the cardiac glycosides can cause vomiting, bloody stool, arrhythmia and death
Interactions
- Western
- cardiac glycosides: the plant's own cardiac glycosides add to digitalis-type toxicity, risking fatal arrhythmia
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