Hellebore

Hellebore, common name for any of a genus of plants of the buttercup family. Native to Eurasia, the flowers have five large, petal-like sepals, eight to ten inconspicuous tubular petals, many stamens, and three to ten pistils.

Green hellebore, or Christmas flower, produces yellow flowers in late winter or early spring outdoors. It is occasionally used in gardens and has become naturalized in the eastern United States. The more common black hellebore, or Christmas rose, bears large white flowers outdoors in midwinter to early spring.

The false hellebores belong to a different genus and family. Eastern false hellebore is a conspicuous perennial herb of wet open woods and meadows throughout much of the United States. It has numerous large leaves that are narrow at both ends and are accordion pleated lengthwise. Western false hellebore, of high spring range country, is similar in appearance. The rootstocks of these plants and of the related European white hellebore are known to contain a number of alkaloids.

Recently, it has been discovered that the vegetation of false hellebores can produce birth abnormalities in sheep and other animals if eaten by the dam at a particular time in pregnancy. The susceptible period is less than one day. The common deformity produced, known as cyclopia, is malformation of the face resulting in a single median eye or two eyeballs in a single central socket.

Scientific classification: Hellebores make up the genus Helleborus, of the family Ranunculaceae. Green hellebore, or Christmas flower, is classified as Helleborus viridis and black hellebore, or Christmas rose, as Helleborus niger. False hellebores belong to the genus Veratrum, of the family Liliaceae. Eastern false hellebore is classified as Veratrum viride, western false hellebore as Veratrum californicum, and European white hellebore as Veratrum album.

"Hellebore," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Gothic Gardening: Ye Olde Gothick Herball
Hellebore: Black Rose of Christmas

Helleborus niger is known as the Christmas Rose, since it blooms in the middle of winter. The flower is normally white; the "niger" in the Latin name refers to the color of the roots.

Hellebore is one of the four classic poisons. (The other three are nightshade, hemlock, and .)

King Attalus III was one of the greatest poison fanciers in all of history, and he had a particular fondness for hellebore, since the poison "racked the nerves and caused the victim to swell".

Pliny described an elaborate ritual to harvest the roots of the plant. First, a sword was used to draw a circle around the plant. The collector would then pray to the east for permission to dig up the plant. Finally, the collector would look to see if an eagle was flying nearby, for if an eagle was spotted, it presaged the death of the collector within the year.

Gerard, in his famous Herball, found a use for hellebore that is of particular interest to goths. "A purgation of hellebore is good for mad and furious men, for melancholy, dull and heavie persons, and briefly for all those that are troubled with blacke choler, and molested with melancholy."

Gothic Gardening: Ye Olde Gothick Herbal