#HELLEBORUS Niger

[samirafee]

#HELLEBORUS NIGER - CHRISTMAS ROSE

@samirafee

[heaveninawildflower]

A Christmas Rose or Black Hellebore (Helleborus niger).

Etching (circa 1660) by Nicholas Robert (1614-1685) after himself.

Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark.

[banefolk]

Christmas Botanicals Series: Black Hellebore

Next up in the christmas botanicals series is the christmas rose, also known as black hellebore. Hellebore is a flowering perennial with evergreen leaves in the famously poisonous Ranunculaceae family which also contains aconites (wolfsbane), delphiniums, meadow rues, clematis species, and ranunculus (ranging from wild buttercups to ornamental flowers).

Hellebore contains saponins, cardiac glycosides, and other toxins. While ingestion of hellebore may not be deadly to humans, it is incredibly unpleasant. Symptoms include contact dermatitis, burning skin, burning of the mouth and throat, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, confusion, and irregular heartbeat.

Hellebore was one of the first documented chemical weapons used in warfare. The Greeks used the potently poisonous leaves to taint the entire water supply of the sacred city of Kirrha in 585 BCE to end a 10-year siege. It did not kill the residents but incapacitated them with vomiting and diarrhea while the Greek army invaded and slaughtered the entire population by the sword.

Hellebore has been venerated as a powerful plant by multiple ancient civilizations and was included in medical texts by the likes of Hippocrates and Theophrastus.

Black hellebore eventually became associated with christmas due to its evergreen leaves and naturally blooming in winter near the older date of christmas from the Julian calendar. Like mistletoe, the association is likely older than christianity and it was also brought in the home during the dark of winter to protect from evil spirits, ghosts, witches, and illness, but unlike mistletoe hanging in the roof rafters, hellebore was supposedly strewn on the ground with the rushes. Like hanging mistletoe, people in the British Isles and Europe continued the protective practice after converting to the new religion. Today the practice has changed to decorating with hellebore flowers for christmas.

[kelemengabi]

[garfield118]

123123

[thecryptandtheincubus]

ዛꗛԸԸꗛᗹꗞɌꚶꕷ ᙁĬǤꗛɌ άλφα

HERBARIUM : Hellébore noir (Helleborus Niger)

LIEU DE CUEILLETTE : mon jardin

[calochortus]

Christmas Rose by Peter Stenzel Via Flickr: Helleborus niger - Schneerose, Christrose Sony Alpha 1 with FE 90mm F2.8 Macro

[thebotanicalarcade]

n37_w1150 by Biodiversity Heritage Library Via Flickr: The instructive picture book, or, Lessons from the vegetable world Edinburgh :Edmonston & Douglas, 87 Princes Street,1858. biodiversitylibrary.org/page/59644124

[huariqueje]

Helleborus niger praecox  -    Ralf Jurszo , 2010.

German, b.1947 -

Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 cm.

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Wednesday 27 December 2023

In my friend’s garden I noticed this lovely Helleborus niger 'Christmas Carol' (Christmas rose) flowering. This is a clump-forming, semi-evergreen perennial which flowers in winter and early spring growing in a shaded location.

Jill Raggett

[lounaticm]

So guys...

Hellebore hybrid called 'Walberton's Rosemary'. A cross of Helleborus niger (also known as 'black hellebore' and 'christmas rose') with Helleborus orientalis (also known as 'lenten rose'). Each has such additional names because hellebores bloom in late winter through spring.

I don't recall if Mark said that that flower wasn't based off of any actual flower (though I swear he did) but either way... that's a hell of a resemblance if it wasn't intended.

And, for anyone who likes flower meanings, hellebores symbolize sympathy, purity, innocence, serenity, peace, and tranquility, but also stress, anxiety, and scandal, and in the Victorian Era, they represented delirium.

@kiwibubbles5

[samirafee]

#CHRISTMAS ROSES♥️BURST OF BUDS

@samirafee

[heaveninawildflower]

Helleborus niger (Christmas Rose) taken from ‘Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen’ by F. E. Kohler, Wilhelm Brandt.

Published 1883 by : Fr. Eugen Kohler.

Missouri Botanical Garden.archive.org

[lahija-del-molinero]

Helleborus niger

[kelemengabi]

[garfield118]

010224