The structure of veracintine, a novel alkaloid isolated from the aboveground part of Veratrum album subsp. lobelianum (Bernh.), has been inferred based on the study of n.m.r., i.r., U.V. and mass spectra of veracintine and its derivatives. Veracintine, 20-(2-methyl-1-pyrrolin-5-yl)-pregn-5-ene-3β-ol, is shown to be a novel structural type of biogenetically interesting veratrum alkaloid and the first representative of a new type of veratrum alkaloids possessing a 5-membered heterocycle in the side chain of the steroidal skeleton. This alkaloid is being synthesized in order to verify the proposed structure.