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Plants animals and natural materials

Hellebria

Black hellebore distinguished by red flowers.

From the book

A Chymical Dictionary

Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordBlack hellebore distinguished by red flowers.
  • In the bookMandella identifies the seed of black hellebore.
  • A place to readThe historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 25; facsimile PDF page 353.

Historical definition

Hellebria is a kind of black hellebore bearing red flowers.

Meaning

The colour of the flowers is part of the identification. Unlike the unqualified Daura gloss, this entry describes a kind of black hellebore and adds a visible feature. It does not give an account of its preparation or use.

Use in the book

Mandella identifies the seed of black hellebore. The two entries therefore distinguish a plant description from a plant part. The modernised definition preserves the historical common name and the red flowers without deciding that the description fixes a single modern botanical species.

Places to read

  1. HellebriaRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
  2. DauraA dictionary name for hellebore.
  3. MandellaA name for the seed rather than the whole plant.

Source note

Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 25; facsimile PDF page 353 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Hellebria