Family

Bunch-flower.

Colour

Greenish yellow, becoming more green as the flowers grow older.

Odour

Scentless.

Range

Mostly east, south and west.

Time of Bloom

May-July.

Flowers: growing in racemes along the branches. Perianth: of six oblong divisions. Stamens: six. Pistil: one, with a three-branched style. Leaves: clasping; broadly ovate; pointed; parallel-veined. Stem: two to seven feet high; stout; leafy.

Our attention is hardly held by the flowers of the false hellebore after we have learned to identify them; as they are particularly lacking in beauty. It is to the leaves that we feel grateful for pushing through the earth at so early a season of the year and enlivening the swamps with foliage. They also appear along brooks and mountain 'streams, and are on very friendly terms with the skunk cabbage. As the plant's generic name indicates, it is poisonous. Chickens especially have fallen victims to eating its seeds, and the fatal mistake has been made by individuals of using the young leaves for those of the marsh marigold, in which case death has been the result.