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.The Botanicum
Helleborus - Hellebore
The Christmas rose blossoming at Christmas time - Latin »Helleborus niger« - is named after its black coloured roots and is highly toxic.
Nevertheless, hellebore was one of the most frequently applied remedies of the ancient world.
For a long time, people believed that an illness meant that the body »fluids« of a patient were out of balance. In the easiest case, one tried to remove the harmful or surplus fluids from the body by administering emetics and laxatives. A large part of remedies in the ancient world served this purpose.
Therefore, these emetics and laxatives, e.g. hellebore, were very popular. A patient could only be saved from poisoning by timely inducement to vomit.
