Hellebore. A study of spring flowers.

This is a Hellebore flower.  It is often called a Winter or Lenten Rose.

It is not part of the rose family though it is part of the Ranunculaceae plant family.

This plant comes from Eastern Europe where it grows in meadows. 

Some of the native countries it can be found in are

Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Greece and Italy.

The flowers of these plant come in many colors.

I think I have photos of most of the colors in this post.

The colors can be black,purple, rose-pink, green, yellow and white.

In the past when flowers were sent in bouquets to send a message to 

the person receiving the flower,  Hellebore in the bouquet meant : Scandal and

Calumny.  The person who received the flowers would most likely take the 

message as one of  a wish from the sender to overcome or prevent such a disaster.

Do you know what Calumny means?  I didn't so I looked it up here is the definition,

Calumny: The act of making a statement about someone that is not true and is intended to

 damage the reputation of that person. 

Ouch! That's not nice, makes me think of a Taylor Swift song.  Perhaps she needs

to put some of these flowers in one of her music videos.

Most of the time the flowers are pointing down and it 

is hard to get a good photo of them.  I find that these photos that 

I have give a good view of the flowers.  They are pretty interesting

looking.

It always amazes me how one type of flower can have so many

different variations.  I just love looking at and studying flowers and plants.

Do you like Hellebore plants?

What is your favorite spring flower?

G.G.