Green Hellebore

Howard Beck has been to Threshfield Moor to see the Green Hellebore (Helleborus viridis) and has kindly shared details and the following photograph. This is a welcome update given the last record from this location is now more than 20 years old.

Green Hellebore (photo by Howard Beck)

This colony seems to be doing well along the banks of a small beck. This remote location is far from what would ordinarily be considered typical habitat for the species. It seems likely that it is a long established garden escape, from the days before the modern hybrids supplanted this species in gardens or perhaps even from when it was still valued as a medicinal plant. Its value being as a powerful antihelminthic, as well as a cure for boils and 'melancholicke' diseases. It is possible this colony derives from a wild gathering from nearby Grass Wood, where this species is also known (last reported in 2002).