Botanical species · safety record

Helleborus niger

The EFSA Compendium of Botanicals holds 6 constituent measurements and 1 adverse-effect record for Helleborus niger. This page reports what those source records contain and how to reach them. It carries no effect estimate, no dose and no recommendation.

Accepted name in source: Helleborus niger L.

6Constituent measurements

1Safety records

7Cited sources

40Licensed products (Canada)

Regulatory presence

Health Canada's Licensed Natural Health Products Database holds 40 licensed products naming Helleborus niger as a medicinal ingredient, matched on the exact Latin binomial. A licence records that a product met the regulator's requirements for sale in Canada. It is not evidence that the product works.

Source material stated

Rhizome
Root
Tincture of fresh underground organs of the plant
Underground organs
Underground organs collected in autumn or after the plant has flowered in spring
Underground part(s)

What the records describe

Constituents measured

Plant parts

Preparations

Effect types

Recorded constituents

What analytical work has found in this species, at which plant part and preparation. A measured constituent is a fact about material, not about effect.

Substance	Plant part	Preparation	Concentration	Analytical method	Source
Hellebosaponins	Roots and other underground parts	Solvent extraction	—	Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)	Resolve DOI
Hellebosaponins	Roots and other underground parts	Solvent extraction	—	LC-MS/MS	Resolve DOI
Steroidal saponins	Leaves	Solvent extraction	—	LC-MS	Resolve DOI
Corytuberine	Aerial part of plants	Solvent extraction	—	UV/VIS spectroscopy (photometry)	No resolvable identifier
Hellebrin	Roots and other underground parts	Solvent extraction	—	—	No resolvable identifier
Protoanemonin	Roots and other underground parts	Solvent extraction	—	Chromatographic tests	No resolvable identifier

Recorded adverse effects

Adverse effects reported in the source literature, most often in animal or laboratory models at a stated preparation and dose.

Effect	Target tissue	Plant part	Preparation	Test organism	Test type	Source
Other toxicities	—	Roots and other underground parts	—	Cat (as animal)	Acute toxicity	No resolvable identifier

Cited sources

The literature the compendium cites for this species. Metatron Health has no relationship with these authors or journals and earns nothing from citing them.

Duckstein, Sarina M., Lorenz, Peter., Conrad, Juergen., Stintzing, Florian C. Tandem mass spectrometric characterization of acetylated polyhydroxy hellebosaponins, the principal steroid saponins in Helleborus niger L. roots. RAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, 2014, vol. 28, no. 16, p. 1801-1812. DOI
Karrer, Walter. Hellebrin, a crystallized glycoside from the rhizome of Helleborus niger. Helvetica chimica acta, 1943, p. 1353-1367.
Duckstein, Sarina M., Stintzing, Florian C. Comprehensive Study of the Phenolics and Saponins from Helleborus niger L. Leaves and Stems by Liquid Chromatography/Tandem Mass Spectrometry . Chemistry & biodiversity, 2014, vol. 11, no. 2, p. 276-298. DOI
Slavik, Jiri., Bochorakova, Jitka., Slavikova, Leonora. Occurrence of magnoflorine and corytuberine in some wild or cultivated plants of Czechoslovakia. Collection of Czechoslovak Chemical Communications, 1987, p. 804-811.
Duckstein, Sarina M., Stintzing, Florian C. LC-MSn characterization of steroidal saponins in Helleborus niger L. roots and their conversion products during fermentation . Steroids, 2015, vol. 93, p. 47-59. DOI
Bonora, A., Dall'Olio, G., Bruni, A. Separation and quantitation of protoanemonin in Ranunculaceae by normal- and reversed-phase HPLC. Planta Medica, 1985, p. 364-367.
Karrer, Walter. Cardiac glucosides. Festschrift emil c. barell, 1936, p. 238-245.

Boundary

A constituent measurement is a fact about material at a stated preparation, not a statement about what that material does in a person. An adverse-effect or genotoxicity record is an observation reported in a source, most often in an animal or laboratory model. Neither is a Metatron Health conclusion about causality, human risk or benefit, and the absence of a record is not proof that a preparation is safe. Nothing here is diagnosis, prescribing or individual medical care.

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Independent literature