March 21, 2017

Green Hellebore


The color of the Green hellebore (Helleborus viridis) justifies its name, it is really of an intense dark, green, green and you can see it when other plants do not yet show many green sprouts.




It makes big clumps on the forest floor at the end of winter.




Even the flowers are green, little bells hanging between big compound palmate leaves.



When wide open, you can see about twenty stamens and in their centre some pistils a bit longer.


Green Hellebore, here beside a fallen Hornbeam tree, looks very much like the other hellebore that grows in Dordogne, Stinking Hellebore, with paler flowers and a really bad smell. Green Hellebore is not as common as this species, you'll find it only in the deepest parts of valleys, under trees, and mostly not far from water.