hellebore flowers

Young and Old: Hellebores

Posted on by Ann Mackay

NB: A note for WordPress Reader users – you need to click on the title of the post again to come out of the reader and go to the post itself. This allows you to see the whole of the top photograph. (Otherwise you may see just a tiny section!)

A question in response to last week’s post about hellebores has prompted this one. Linda (who blogs at https://shoreacres.wordpress.com/ ) made this comment: ‘What really surprised me was finally figuring out that the green was a sign of aging rather than a sign of ‘youth.’ I assumed the petals were green at first, and then turned rose. But from what you’ve said, the fresh petals are cream colored — is that right?’

In my reply to Linda I said that the flowers turn green as a part of the aging process. Sometimes, however, there is a slight blush of green on the younger flowers too. (That green shows that there is chlorophyll present, which contributes to the plant’s overall photosynthesis.)

The ‘petals’ of a hellebore are actually sepals. That’s the part of a flower that is normally green and leaf-like, and sits behind the petals. The hellebore sepals turn green after the flower has been pollinated. Some hellebores have sepals that age and darken to a peachy-pink shade, as you can see in my top photo. Whatever their colour, the flowers can last for weeks, with the sepals being more robust than normal petals.

hellebore flowers
An older flower of Hellebore ‘Rosali’ with a paler flower that’s just opened to its left.

You might be wondering why the hellebore has no true petals. In fact, they’re still there, but over time have evolved into the tubular structures arranged in a ring in the centre of the flower. These are the nectaries, which produce nectar to attract any of the wild bees and other insects that may be active during winter or early spring. In the photo above, you can see the ring of nectaries is still on the old flower, but the stamens have dropped off after pollination.

In the bottom photo, you can see that the nectaries have now also fallen off this old flower. That leaves just the carpels that contain the developing seeds in the centre. How different the aging flower looks compared to the younger ones below it! Those still have both their stamens and their nectaries. (In this case I think the nectaries very pretty, like little ruffles with delicate pink stripes inside.) This particular plant does have a greenish tint to the cream flowers, which later become a vivid green.

Oh, and just to confuse things a little, there are green-flowered hellebores. Helleborus viridis and Helleborus foetidus are both native to the UK and have green sepals throughout their flowering period. Then there’s the Corsican hellebore (Helleborus argutifolius), also known as the holly-leaved hellebore because it has spiny leaves. This one has attractive lime-green flowers and I’m tempted to try growing it, both for the novelty of green flowers and for the handsome foliage.

hellebore flowers
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Published by Ann Mackay

Photographer, mixed-media art adventurer and completely daft about plants.......

17 thoughts on “Young and Old: Hellebores”

  1. What a great explanation. One thing that probably added to my perplexity is that two friends (both in California) grow hellebores, but they’ve only posted images of what I now know is yet another cultivar: Helleborus orientalis “Wedding Bells.” I need to ask them about color changes in those gorgeous white flowers; I’ve never seen a hint of green in them, but that may be due to their preferred time to photograph them. It doesn’t help that I’ve never seen one; they’ll apparently grow in Austin and Dallas, but most Houston garden columnists advise against them in our area.

    Your mention of the lime green flowers reminded me of one of our natives: Passiflora lutea, a very small green passionvine. I’ve seen in only in east Texas, and have only one mediocre photo of it, but it’s another I’m hoping to find again this year.

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    1. That’s a beautiful hellebore, Linda! I did manage to find a couple of pictures on the web of the aging flowers of ‘Wedding Bells’ and it appears that they do also turn a pale green as the flowers start to go over. This one’s on Facebook, so I hope it’s visible: https://www.facebook.com/waltersgardens/photos/helleborus-wedding-party-wedding-bells-blooming-in-our-greenhousesheight-18-24-i/4075493545843787/?locale=hi_IN
      There’s another pic here, but fewer flowers: https://www.anniesannuals.com/helleborus-orientalis-wedding-bells.html
      I looked up the passionflower – how lovely and delicate it looks! A wonderful plant to have as a native and I hope you do find it again. 🙂

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    1. Thank you for the lovely comment, Lis! I’m lucky to be able to grow them here. Much of our garden would get too dry and hot for them but I have a few spots with a bit of shade and they seem just fine in those. (I’m clearing out another spot with some shade, so perhaps there will be another hellebore or two needed for that, hehe! 🙂

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      1. You can never have too many! 😆 I only have the green foetidus at present, which has its own charm of course, but I’m hoping for a little excursion to a nursery this week to indulge in something more colourful . . . no problems with hot and dry here! 🌧️🌧️🌧️

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  3. Potentially even more confusing that sepals are tepals, which are sometimes hard to distinguish from both petals and sepals. The similarity between the three words doesn’t help. In fact French tépale was created from pétale in 1827 by switching the first two consonants. Despite that, I think your hellebores don’t get confused.

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    1. Yes, I believe that tepal is used when there is no distinguishable difference between the petals and the tepals, so in that case they are collectively known as tepals (e.g. tulips) – plenty of room for confusion!

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  6. Dear Ann,

    This was very interesting, but I might still be a little confused about the correct terminology (my problem, I keep forgetting the botanical names for various flowers parts 😊).

    What I’m not confused about is my marvel at the various lovely hues and tones of the hellebores you have featured here. I find all of them exquisite.

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