ABSTRACT
Veratrum album and V. nigrum were the source of medicines like protoveratrine that were used to treat eclampsia and pre-eclampsia. Veratrum californicum contains a chemical which can be converted to a medicine, sonidegib, which disables the genetics of the growth of basal cell carcinomas. Veratrine and veratridine were other medicines containing Veratrum alkaloids. Their action was ‘like aconite’, neurotoxins, and violently irritative especially on mucous membranes and ‘should be handled with great care’ and never taken internally. A further use of Veratrum species was developed when it was noted that V. californicum and other species if eaten by sheep in California resulted in foetal malformations, in particular having only one eye. It was found to act on certain genetic pathways responsible for stem-cell division in the regulation of the development of bilateral symmetry in the embryo.
