| Also known by names Black
Hellebore, or Christmas Rose. This plant derives its first name from the
black colour of its roots, its second from its early flowering, and the
colour of its petals, which though generally milk-white on their first
appearance, yet have frequently a tint of red in them, which increases
with the age of the blossom and finally changes to green; in some species
of Hellebore, particularly the viridis, the flower is green from first
to last.
Black Hellebore grows wild
on the Appenine and other mountains, preferring such as are rocky.
If the weather be unusually
mild, it will flower in our gardens, in the open border, as early as December
and January; it may indeed be considered as the herald of approaching spring.
Like most other alpine plants,
it loves a pure air, a situation moderately moist, and a soil unmanured:
as the beauty of its flowers is apt to be destroyed by severe frosts, it
should be covered during the winter with a hand-glass, or if it be treated
in the manner recommended for the round-leav'd Cyclamen, it may be had
to flower in still greater perfection.
It is propagated by parting
its roots in autumn: neither this species nor the hyemalis thrive very
near London. |
