What is this then?
 

Hello people!

Can anyone please tell me what this plant is?

Not been at my new place that long and still working out what is
actually in the garden!

http://193.122.22.224/whatisit.jpg

File is 600K (ish) so sorry modem users!

Thanks everyone.

Mark Thomas

In article , Mark Thomas
writes
Hello people!

Can anyone please tell me what this plant is?

Not been at my new place that long and still working out what is
actually in the garden!

http://193.122.22.224/whatisit.jpg

File is 600K (ish) so sorry modem users!

It's a hellebore. Someone else will tell you which one.
What look like flowers are in fact bracts, modified leaves (I think)
around the flowers (which are tiny), and therefore they last for ages
and ages. Add to that the lovely foliage and it's a very worthwhile
plant.
--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

Can anyone please tell me what this plant is?

Not been at my new place that long and still working out what is
actually in the garden!

http://193.122.22.224/whatisit.jpg

File is 600K (ish) so sorry modem users!


It's a hellebore. Someone else will tell you which one.
What look like flowers are in fact bracts, modified leaves (I think)
around the flowers (which are tiny), and therefore they last for ages
and ages. Add to that the lovely foliage and it's a very worthwhile
plant.

Excellent thanks Kay.

I agree, the foliage is lovely and certainly cheers up a dull winter
garden! :)

Thanks

Mark

Stinking Hellebore by the looks ... see he
http://flood.nhm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fff/g...oraNo%5D=16700


"Mark Thomas" wrote in message
...
Hello people!

Can anyone please tell me what this plant is?

Not been at my new place that long and still working out what is actually
in the garden!

http://193.122.22.224/whatisit.jpg

File is 600K (ish) so sorry modem users!

Thanks everyone.

Mark Thomas

In article , p00kie
writes
Stinking Hellebore by the looks ... see he
http://flood.nhm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fff/g...loraNo%5D=1670
0

That was my first thought, from leaf shape, flower shape and colour. But
stinking hellebore (H. foetidus) has a purple edge to the inside of the
'flowers'

see
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/images...s_foetidus.jpg

and I couldn't see that on the pic, so I wondered H viridis? - but I'm
not familiar with that.

H viridis also looks cruder in leaf shape, from, eg

http://www.floralimages.co.uk/pyrenees1.htm

so I'm just not sure. Some of the other H foetidus pics on the web don't
show the purple edge, eg

http://www.turning-earth.co.uk/shade.htm

but then web identifications aren't always reliable ;-)
The nhm url that pookie gives should be reliable, and that shows the
purple edge if you look closely, but very much less obviously than the
url I gave.

Stace, which is the standard flora from UK flowers, doesn't mention the
purple edge as diagnostic, so perhaps it is variable. He also refers to
the flowers as flowers not bracts so I was wrong there! - but they're
not delicate petals as we know them, they last right through to seed
formation.

Stinking hellebore gets its name from the smell of the foliage when
crushed, so that's one thing to try - admittedly I've never done that
with mine so I can't tell you what it smells of!


--
Kay
"Do not insult the crocodile until you have crossed the river"

p00kie wrote:
Stinking Hellebore by the looks ... see he
http://flood.nhm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fff/g...oraNo%5D=16700




It does indeed look like a stinking hellebore - much to my wifes
disgust! lol - wasn't too keen on the sound of it :)

thanks everyone - you came up trumps again..

Cheers

mark

Kay wrote in message
...
In article , p00kie
writes
Stinking Hellebore by the looks ... see he

http://flood.nhm.ac.uk/cgi-bin/fff/g...lora.%5BFloraN
o%5D=1670
0

That was my first thought, from leaf shape, flower shape and colour.
But stinking hellebore (H. foetidus) has a purple edge to the inside
of
the 'flowers'

see
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/images...s_foetidus.jpg

and I couldn't see that on the pic, so I wondered H viridis? - but I'm
not familiar with that.

H viridis also looks cruder in leaf shape, from, eg

http://www.floralimages.co.uk/pyrenees1.htm

so I'm just not sure. Some of the other H foetidus pics on the web
don't show the purple edge, eg

http://www.turning-earth.co.uk/shade.htm

but then web identifications aren't always reliable ;-)
The nhm url that pookie gives should be reliable, and that shows the
purple edge if you look closely, but very much less obviously than the
url I gave.

Stace, which is the standard flora from UK flowers, doesn't mention
the purple edge as diagnostic, so perhaps it is variable.

Does it mention purple or purplish leaves? see below.

He also refers to
the flowers as flowers not bracts so I was wrong there! - but they're
not delicate petals as we know them, they last right through to seed
formation.

Stinking hellebore gets its name from the smell of the foliage when
crushed, so that's one thing to try - admittedly I've never done that
with mine so I can't tell you what it smells of!

Hi all, long time no type :-) I am intrigued by this thread, because I
have a hellebore very like this one in my garden so was interested to
see what you all came up with. Mine has greener leaves than the
H.foetidus in the pictures, but not broader leaves like the H.viridis.
It doesn't have purple tinges to the petals. Have just been out and
crushed a bit and it doesn't stink either. So I'm not convinced that it
is either of those.

A quick web search hasn't found anything any more likely though......


--

Holly, in France.
Holiday home in the Dordogne,
website: http://la-plaine.chez.tiscali.fr