GREEN HELLEBORE

Helleborus viridis

Buttercup Family [Ranunculaceae]

month8feb month8mar month8march month8apr month8april

status
statusZnative
 
flower
flower8green
 
inner
inner8cream
 
morph
morph8actino
 
petals
petalsZ5
sepals
stem
stem8round
 
toxicity
toxicityZmedium
 
rarity
rarityZuncommon
 
sex
sexZbisexual
 

7th March 2015, Roche Abbey, South Yorks. Photo: © John Phandaal Law
A short perennial flower which grows to 40cm high.


7th March 2015, Roche Abbey, South Yorks. Photo: © John Phandaal Law
Hiding amongst its leaves there are 3 as-yet unopened green flowerheads lurking amongst or hiding under the foliage. The leaflets are comparatively wide (for a Hellebore) and have coarsely-toothed edges but are not as wide as those on Corsican Hellebore nor on the even wider leaflets of Christmas-Rose.


7th March 2015, Roche Abbey, South Yorks. Photo: © John Phandaal Law
The leaves are a bright-yellowish-green and deeply cleft into 3 leaflets, (left hand corner), often in pairs or in triplets. Some leaves are in rosettes with 6 to 8 leaves, which are cut into 2 or 3 leaflets. A younger set of leaves, with a brownish tinge, are centre right. Unlike the evergreen leaves of Stinking Hellebore, these have deciduous leaves dying off later.


7th March 2015, Roche Abbey, South Yorks. Photo: © John Phandaal Law
The flowers of Hellebores have 5 petals (actually sepals) which are a bright-green colour, hence both the common name and the specific epithet 'viridis'. The flowers of this species of Hellebore are are in either singles or in small clusters


7th March 2015, Roche Abbey, South Yorks. Photo: © John Phandaal Law
The flowers are between 3 and 5cm across, and with numerous filaments within with greenish-cream stamens atop. The female parts (carpels) number 2 to 5 - but none are visible here because they are not yet mature enough but when they do appear the end is abruptly terminated apart from a thin wire-like projection on the outside of each carpel which is about the same length as the carpel (and similar to those of Corsican Hellebore and Christmas-Rose but differing from the tapering ones of Stinking Hellebore)


No relation to : the Helleborines [which are members of the Orchid Family [Orchidaceae] and have a similar-sounding name].

Easily mis-identified as : Stinking Hellebore (Helleborus foetidus) which also has green flowers (but they are a duller-green) and usually bell-shaped [hardly opening] and with the head hanging downwards. Uniquely identifiable characteristics

Distinguishing Feature :

It is native as far north as Northern England but often occurs as a garden escapee. It is a fairly rare [R].

It seems that it might (?) be Green Hellebore which contains some of the cardiotoxic compounds that were previously thought to be present in Black Hellebore (aka Christmas-Rose) - these compounds being Helleborin, Hellebrin and Helleborein. The plant samples used by the investigators got mixed up. Certainly consumption of the plant materials can result in severe vomiting and seizures. It is a purgative that was previously used in folk medicine to treat worms.


  Helleborus viridis  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Ranunculaceae  

Distribution
 family8Buttercup family8Ranunculaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Helleborus
Helleborus
(Hellebores)

GREEN HELLEBORE

Helleborus viridis

Buttercup Family [Ranunculaceae]