Helleborus orientalis

#photography #photo #nature #flower #flowers #bloomscrolling #plant #hellebore #lentenrose #pink #white #naturephotography #evergreen #perennials #gardening

Bloom Scrolling for Hellebore

#Hellebore #LentenRose #SpringFlowers #Macrophotography #BloomScrolling

These are what #HelleboreAphids - #MacrosiphumHellebori - look like.

This specific #GardenPest is whitish-green & only attacks #hellebores. Hellebore #aphids are a nasty garden pest because it's a vector for the virus #HelleboreNetNecrosis #virus #HeNNV - a pathogen that spreads #BlackDeath quickly, if left untreated.

#Bloomscrolling #WhatsEatingYourFlowers #GardenPestID #WhatsEatingYourPlant #botanical #nature #insects #Saanich #LentenRose #VancouverIsland #PollinatorGarden #PNW #DisabledPhotographers #WorldInMyEyes #YYJphotographers #photography #Zone8 #gardens #VictoriaBC #YYJ #VanIsle #PacificNorthwest #Cascadia #Wsanec #GardeningMastodon

This flower, which I saw outside my building, is new to me so I took its picture in order to look it up.

It is identified by my iPhone and Wikipedia as a Lenten Rose: “A perennial flowering plant and species of hellebore in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae, native to Greece and Turkey.”

In case you were wondering, Lent is the six-week period leading up to Easter. It starts on Ash Wednesday (Feb. 14, 2024) and either ends on Maundy Thursday (March 28, 2024) or Holy Saturday (March 30, 2024), depending on the denomination. Today is March 10, so I saw this Lenten rose right in the middle of Lent.

When I looked up “hellebore” I learned that “the Eurasia genus Helleborus consists of approximately 20 species of herbaceous or evergreen perennial flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae, within which it gave its name to the tribe of Helleboreae. Despite names such as ‘winter rose’, ‘Christmas rose,’ and ‘Lenten rose,’ hellebores are not closely related to the rose family. Many hellebore species are poisonous.” (Wikipedia)

That got me wondering about the tribe of Helleboreae and if they were hunters or gatherers. As far as I can tell, though, this is not a tribe of humans but of plants that have been used for both beneficial and nefarious purposes. “Healers have used hellebores in a variety of concoctions including salves, sold as a ‘fountain of youth’ and as a powder for invisibility. Medieval witches were thought to use Hellebore powder to summon demons.” (Tesselar.net)

According to one source, “in 600 B.C the Athenians under Solon used the poisonous Hellborus roots as a biological weapon to contaminate a river to subdue and conquer the un-suspecting citizens of  Kirrha who drank from it.” (Learnaboutnature.com)

So, this pretty little flower can be a biological weapon, has possibilities for use in summoning demons in scary movies, and could be used by superhero characters to achieve invisibility and eternal youth. It is also very near my apartment in case I ever have the urge to poison anyone.

https://snowbirdofparadise.com/2024/03/10/lenten-rose/

#ashWednesday #biologicalWeapon #demons #eternalYouth #flower #hellebore #humour #invisibility #Lent #LentenRose #poison #ranunculaceae

#Helleborus Gold Collection(R) 'Pink Frost'. Originating from Heuger in Germany (https://www.heuger.com/en/our-concepts/helleborus-gold-collection).

#garden #gardening #flowers #horticulture #photography #bloomscrolling #botany #LentenRose #hellebore