THE 

 GEEEN HELLEBOEE. 



Helleborus viridis. Nat. Ord. 

 Raminculacece. 



NY of our readers who may by 

 chance find a specimen of 

 our present plant will have 

 little difficulty in recognising 

 it, the palmate character of 

 its foliage and the unusual 

 colour of its flowers being 

 sufficiently striking points 

 to aid in its identification. 

 Though we have spoken of 

 the colour of its flowers, it 

 is only in deference to popu- 

 lar phraseology ; for as the 

 artist would divide things into 

 white, black, or coloured, so the 

 botanist divides his plants into 



green and coloured. The green hellebore should be 

 looked for in thickets and woods, and appears to thrive 

 best in a stiff and calcareous soil. Like the henbane or 

 the deadly nightshade, too, it seems to find in the society 

 of mankind an especial attraction ; hence we find it on 

 ruins and at the foot of old walls. It is in some 

 cases an introduced plant, but in some of the eastern and 

 southern counties it is probably indigenous. In many of 

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