HELLEBORUS 



stem over 1 ft. high, forked above, 2-6-fld., large, leaf- 

 like bracts; sepals roundish, imbricated, white, purple 

 beneath and purple edges, spreading: capsules oblong, 

 shorter than the sepals, transversely ribbed : style erect 

 or incurved. Asia Minor. Gn. 47, p. 136. — There are nu- 

 merous varieties of this beautiful species, 

 c. Purple-fid. varieties. 

 Var. Cdlchious, Kegel. Stem purple-spotted, quite 

 glaucous: 1 leaf to each fiower-stem: Us. 3-6 on a stem 

 deep bright purple, both inside and out. Asia Minor 

 BM. ioHl (S.S il. atrorubens). Gt. 1860:293, Var. Col- 

 chicus-punctitus, T. Moore. Pis. deeper plum-purple 

 more glaucous, exquisitely mottled inside with innumer 



HELWINGIA 



727 



1036. Christmas Rose, Helleborus Niger (XH). 



able dark dots. Gn. 16:189, f. 8. -One of the handsomest 

 of all the Hellebores. 



Var. Abchfisicus, A. Braun. Much like var. Colchicus, 

 but differing in having 2 or more Ivs. to a flower-stem. 

 Caucasus region. Gt. 1866:496 (as II. Caucasicus, var. 

 Abchaslcus, Kegel). 



Var. atrinibens, Waldst. & Kit. Only 1 leaf on a 

 flower-stem, glabrous, thinner in texture than in the 

 rest of the orientalis group: segments narrow: fls. 2-4 

 on a stem; sepals dark purple outside, greenish purple 

 within. Hungary. R.H. 1865:231. — A connecting link 

 between the viridis and orientalis groups. 



Var. rtibro-purpiireus, Hort. (H. atrnpiirpurea, Hort. ). 

 A seedling of var. atroriibeus. v,'ith bold foliage and pur- 

 ple flower-stems: fls. spreading, deep purple. Charac- 

 ters well fixed and very handsome. Gn. 16:189, f. 1. R.H. 

 1884:564. 



Purple-fld. hybrids of the varieties of R. orientalis are 

 found in the trade under the following names: Var. 

 elenans; var. iridescens; F, C. Heinemitnn. fls. very 

 large, imbricated, deep purple and mottleil : Fniii Irtiu/ 

 Heiiiemunn, fls. rose-purple outside, greenish wliite, 

 with dark lines and dots inside; Gritclun Ueinemaiin, 

 red-fld., strong grower; ffofqarten-I nspector Sartwig, 

 fls. rose-purple without and greenish within; Apotheker 

 Sogren, rose-purple, very large. 



oe. White-fid. varieties. 

 Var. Olympicus, Lindl. Glabrous : fls. small, but 

 spreading, very numerous; sepals green on outer sur- 

 face, white within. Bithynia. B.R. 28 :.')8. -Hybrids 

 closely allied to this have been given the trade names: 

 Willy Schmidt and Prof. Dr. Schleicher, 



Var. gutt&tus, A. Braun. Glabrous, green stem: 

 sepals green outside, white within and elegantly spotted 

 with purple crimson dots. Caucasus region.— Two al- 

 lied hybrid forms are named : Commerz Benary and 

 Albin Otto. Gn. 16:189, f. 4. 



Var. antiqudrum, A. Braun. Glabrous, green mottled 

 stem: fls. as invar. Olympicus, but more imbricated, 

 maintaining the bell-shaped foi-m. B.K. 28:34 (as H. 

 orientalis, Lindl.). Gn. 16:189, f. 3, 



ccc. Green-fid. variety. 

 Var. Cauc&sicus, A. Braun. Lvs. very glossy; seg- 

 ments more oblong than in the type, often 3 or 4 in. 

 broad : sepals round, pale green, much imbricated. 

 Caucasus region. g^ q^ Davis. 



HELMET FLOWER. Aronit-im, Coryanthes and -ScM- 

 teUuria. 



HELONIAS (Greek, swamp-loving). Lili&cew. 

 S\v.\MP Pink. This genus includes a rare hardy peren- 

 nial bulbous plant which grows in bogs from northern 

 N. J. to N. C, and is sold by dealers in native plants. 

 In very early spring it bears a hollow scape 1-2 ft. high, 

 crowned by a raceme 1-3 in. long, composed of perhaps 

 30 pink or purplish fls., each % in. across, 6-lobed, and 

 with 6 blue anthers. The genus has probably only one 

 species, the other plants called Helonias being largely 

 referred to other genera, which are distinguished in 

 Britton and Brown's Illustrated Floral :399. The genus 

 is placed by Britton and Brown in Melanthaceae, an or- 

 der included in the Liliacese by Bentham and Hooker. 

 Helonias has a short, stout rootstock like a leek. The 

 allied Heloniopsis is also in the trade. 



huUata, Linn. Swamp Pink. Stud Pink. Lvs. sev- 

 eral or numerous, thin, dark green, clustered at the base 

 of the scape, 6-15 in. long, H-2 in. wide, with fine par- 

 allel nerves : scape stout, bracted below. Apr., Ma}'. 

 B.M. 747. L.B.C. 10:961. B.B. 1:402. -Int. by H. P. 

 Kelsey. 



Helonias, which is perfectly hardy, is so easily propa- 

 gated by division that it is hardly worth while to grow 

 from seed. Under cultivation, also, it seems to rarely ma- 

 ture perfect seed. It multiplies itself rapidly from off- 

 sets, a single plant often providing a dozen others in a 

 season. It is found growing in dense shade and also in 

 the full glare of the sun, always in wet sphagnum bog 

 in the latter case, while in the shade it sometimes 

 spreads to dry ground. Although one of the showiest of 

 all American bog plants, it 'S comparatively little known 

 here, though better in England. It makes an elegant 

 pot-plant. Haelan P. Kelsey and W. M. 



HEL0NI6FSIS (Greek, like Eelonias). Liliitcece. 

 This includes an herbaceous plant resembling our 

 swamp pink, Helonias buUuia, in the color of its fls. 

 and stamens, but the fls. are larger and fewer, and the 

 lvs. numerous and tufted. The style in Heloniopsis is a 

 conspicuous feature, being long and red, tipped with a 

 purple undivided stigma, while in Helonias the style is 

 very short and 3-cut. Both genera are separated from 

 numerous allied genera by the septicidal dehiscence of 

 their capsules. The fls. are bell-shaped, drooping, deep 

 pink, 6-lobed, with 6 red filaments and purple-blue sta- 

 mens. The genus has about 4 species. The following 

 grows in the mountains of Japan at an altitude of 2,000- 

 7,000 ft., and is presumably hardy. It was once offered 

 by John Saul, of Washington, D. C. 



Japdnica, Maxim. Rootstock short, stout, with long 

 root fibers : lvs. oblanceolate, persistent, green tinged 

 purple: seeds small, very numerous, with a conspicuous 

 tail at each end. B.M. 6986. 



HELWiNGIA (after G. A. Helwing, 1666-1748, a 

 German clergyman, who wrote on the botany of Prussia ) . 

 Aralidcetv. A curious deciduous shrub, remarkable for 

 the reason that the small, inconspicuous greenish fls. 

 are borne in clusters on the midribs of the lvs. at aliout 

 the center of their upper surfaces. Of not much decora- 

 tive value and therefore rarely cultivated, but interest- 

 ing on account of the unusual position of the fls.; ten- 



