HELLEBORUS 
107 
Petals or nectar-leaves yellow, about 10 — 15, hidden between the sepals and stamens, ligulate, 
clawed, nectary at the junction of the limb and the claw, shorter than the sepals. Stamens 00 . 
Follicles co , transversely wrinkled, remains of stigma persisting. Seeds 00 , punctate, almost black. 
This species is abundant in the meadows of upper Teesdale where, as is indeed frequently the case elsewhere in the north, 
it is associated with Geranium sylvaticum. The unusual 
abundance of these two species and the local abundance 
of Viola lutea, Gentiana verna , Bartschia alpina , and other 
showy plants give to the meadows of Teesdale in late spring 
and early summer more the appearance of the flowery sub- 
Alpine meadows of central Europe than is the case in 
any other part of the British Isles which we have seen. 
Rather local, in wet woods and meadows, 
on banks of streams, and on the ledges of 
mountain-rocks, where the water is well- 
aerated and where the rainfall is at least 
comparatively high ; Wales — Glamorganshire 
to Denbighshire; England— Monmouthshire, 
Shropshire, and Derbyshire northwards to 
the Border; Scotland — from the Border to 
Zetland, ascending to 825 m. in Perthshire ; 
Ireland — curiously local and confined to the 
north-west. 
Scandinavia, Denmark, Germany, Bel- 
gium, France, central Europe (ascending to 
2600 m.), Russia, southern Europe ; south- 
western Asia. 
Genus 3. Helleborus 
Helleborus [Tournefort Inst. 271, t. 144 
(1700);] L. Sp. PI. 557 ( 1753 ) et Gen. PI. ed. 5, 
244 (1754); pro max. part.; Salisbury in Trans. 
Linn. Soc. viii, 304 (1807); Prantl op. cit. 56 et 
57 (1891). 
Perennial herbs. Leaves with long 
petioles and much dissected laminae, lobes of 
the laminae serrate. Inflorescence cymose. 
Flowers pedicelled, drooping, protogynous. 
Sepals about 5 or 6, green, purplish, or white, 
persistent. Petals or nectar-leaves about 
5 — 12, green, much smaller than the sepals, 
tubular, slightly 2 -lipped. Stamens 00 , whitish 
or greenish. Carpels about 3 — 10, sessile or 
subsessile. Stigma as long as the rest of the 
carpel. Follicles often joined to some extent 
at the base, sessile or on a short common 
stalk. Seeds biseriate ; testa shining. 
About 15 species; Europe and Asia. 
British Isles and Islands 
British species of Helleborus 
1. H. viridis (p. 108). Laminae of the ground-leaves digitate. Pedicels short. Sepals green, 
spreading. 
2. H. foetidus (p. 108). Laminae of the ground-leaves pedate. Pedicels long. Flowers more 
clustered and smaller than in H. vtndis. Sepals greenish and marked with purplish green towards the 
apex, convergent. 
The allied H. niger, with white sepals, is the Christmas rose of the gardens : it is indigenous in the south-east of central 
Europe. 
14 — 2 
