604 HELLEBORUS. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



HELLEBORUS. 



characteristic is that the leaf and flower 

 stems are beautifully mottled with purple 

 and green, while in H. niger they are of 

 a pale green. H. altifolius also flowers 

 much earlier in some seasons in the 

 beginning of October. The Riverston, 

 St. Bridgids, Madame Fourcade and Bath 

 varieties are all good. 



Other white kinds are H. olympicus a 

 tall slender species with cup-shaped bios- 



other, and may be readily recognised by its 

 thick, dark green leaves, with five to seven 

 broad and coarsely-toothed divisions, the 

 veins of which are raised on the under 

 sides and are of a dark purple when young. 

 The blossoms, borne on forked stems 

 rising considerably above the foliage, are 

 dark purple. Under good cultivation the 

 leaves attain the length of IT? and 2 ft., 

 forming fine specimens, and flowers are 



Christmas Rose. 



soms that appear in early spring and vary 

 from pure white to greenish-white. H, 

 guttatus is like it, but has the inside of 

 the blossoms spotted with purple. There 

 are several forms ; in some the markings 

 assume the form of small dots, in others 

 of thin streaks. It is one of the parents 

 of the many beautiful hybrids. 



The finest of the red or crimson kinds 

 is H. colchicus, which is larger than any 



produced from the end of January to the 

 end of March. A fine hybrid has been 

 obtained by crossing it with H. guttatus, 

 the result being a form with large spread- 

 ing flowers lighter than in H. colchicus, 

 and profusely marked with dark carmine 

 streaks. Another hybrid between this 

 and H. altifolius resulted in a form with 

 larger flowers of a lighter purple. H. 

 atro-rubens has leaves much thinner and 



