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Sylvia Rose

Veratrum album - Tragic Toxins

Veratrum album (white hellebore, false hellebore) is a poisonous plant in the family Melanthiaceae. Used in ancient natural medicine for nerve pain, in the Middle Ages it's also thought effective against evil magic.


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Veratrum species are hardy herbaceous perennials with toxic black rhizomes or roots. Rhizomes are once used as pesticide. In North America, some early indigenous people use the toxins of Veratrum to make poisoned arrows.


All parts of the plant are poisonous. Despite the name white hellebore and toxicity factor, V. album is not related to the hellebores. In ancient times it's used to induce vomiting, and to treat nerve pain, high blood pressure and heart problems.


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V. album can resemble harmless plants and flowers such as yellow gentain or wild garlic. Symptoms of Veratrum poisoning occur between 30 minutes and four hours after ingestion. They include:


  • nausea

  • vomiting

  • abdominal pain, cramps

  • excessively low blood pressure

  • slow or irregular heartbeat

  • drowsiness

  • dizziness

  • dilated pupils

  • heart failure

  • death


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Veratrum album has over 50 active alkaloids causing symptoms from nausea to major birth defects. This plant as well as hellebore contains compounds such as jervine and cyclopamine, linked to the birth defect cyclopia.


In cyclopia the infant is born without a nose or mouth or with badly deformed features. The eye sockets don't grow properly, resulting in a single or cyclopian eye in the middle of the face. The child lives only a few hours.


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child with cyclopia
Cyclopia, 1900 photograph

Many believe V. album poisoning causes the suspicious death of Alexander the Great at age 32. According to the Alexander Romance, an account of his life and deeds, his inner circle plans to assassinate him when he returns to Babylon.


Alexander is sick for twelve days, with symptoms similar to those of Veratrum album poisoning. Some historians suspect poisoned wine. Accounts describe the king struck with pain after drinking a large vessel of unmixed wine to honor the hero Heracles.


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dead head on the road

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Another version states Alexander spends two days drinking with high-ranking friends, then develops a fever and cannot speak. His soldiers march past him so he can wave at them. He dies within two weeks.


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