HELLEBORES or CHRISTMAS FLOWERS

Hellebore, pronounced HELL-e-bore and also called Christmas Rose, has the botanical name is Helleborus.

The flowers' translucent petals and dotty stamens, combined with delicately pointed leaves, give the flower the appearance of a wild dog-rose. Smooth olive-green stems only reach around 20cms and give the flower a very dainty appearance. As cut flowers hellebores come in three main species - Helleborus niger, the Christmas rose which is either bright purest white, or a warm deep purple.; H. orientalis, the Lenten rose which has speckled and streaked flowers in unusual shades of cream, green, purple and pin, and H. corsicus with green or cream bell-like cups in clusters.

Hellebores are short-lived flowers but very beautiful nonetheless. They benefit from a long drink before arranging and keeping them cool will prolong their life. Despite its beauty, the black roots of H. niger are extremely poisonous , so although it is safe to handle, hands should be washed after handling it.

Hellebores are availabile from November to January, and as such are used for winter decorations particularly in Scandinavia. The cornish refer to the Christmas rose as "The Virgin's Mantle". In medieval times it was said to be good for breaking bad spells and curses and was often planted near the front door.

Hellebores niger was first described in a "herbal" in 1597, it was then known as the Christmas Herb or the Christmas Flowers. Nicholas Culpeper's legendary 17th century herbal refers to it. It was regarded as a suitable treatment for insanity and depression. It was first referred to as the Christmas Rose in the 18th century because of its resemblance to the single wild rose (dog-rose).

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