Green Hellebore


I'm quite lucky in having our two native Hellebores close to home. Stinking (which I recently posted about here) and Green (Helleborus viridus). The latter is not commonly found (at least where I go looking) and has a preference for shady situations on chalk and limestone. There are at least a couple of patches of it in one of the woods found on Langley Vale Farm. While I was admiring it and taking a few pictures this morning (above and below) I was buzzed by a very vocal Marsh Tit - another local site for this dwindling bird!

Hellebores are quite showy things and are a garden favourite, particularly Lenten-rose (H orientalis).  They can easily hop over a garden fence and start to colonise 'wild' space. I have also found Corsican Hellebore (H. argutifolius) growing on a roadside verge in Banstead, which still persists 10 years after my initial discovery. Incidentally, this latter species was also found growing on the shingle at Dungeness earlier in the year by Dave Walker.


Comments

Derek Faulkner said…
So enjoyable to see someone getting excited about wild flowers rather than birds, birds, birds.
18 December 2015 at 18:58
Steve Gale said…
As a birder who used to travel all over the UK with blinkers on, anyone who doesn't look at life forms other than birds really are missing out Derek.
18 December 2015 at 20:02
Simon Douglas Thompson said…
THat's a very triddidy looking green flower!
19 December 2015 at 22:21
Mick Lacey said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
20 December 2015 at 18:32
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