Episode 49: Delightful Delirium & Literal Ragers- Hellebore
Hello and welcome back to another episode of Rooted! This week we are keeping with the theme of thriving winter blooms, and taking a closer look at Hellebore, also known as Lenten Roses!
Hellebore, or Helleborous as the genus is called, are members of the Ranunculaceae, or buttercup family. They are known for their delicate looking blooms that seem to last forever, and are some of the first to pop up! They can even withstand freezing temps and snow, making them a perfect choice for 4 season gardening.
Hellebores are native to the Balkans, but have since been hybridized into several distinct varieties that can be found growing all over the world. They have droopy seeming flowers, with heads made up of 5 sepals that LOOK like petals. Instead, the actual bloom, made up of tiny threads called nectaries, make up the center actual flower, and are what produce the pollen and nectar. It’s believed that the sepals are actually retained to aid in seed development, but more research is needed there to be sure!
The sepals can be anywhere from white to a deep cranberry color, and are supported by thin green stems that are surrounded by thick, deep green leaves. They have about 1 foot by1 foot spread, and have a strong preference for rich, well draining soil with not too much sun.
Of course, where there is moisture and shade, there is usually fungus- and in the case of hellebore, there is actually one specific fungus we tend to find!
The species in question here is Coniothyrium hellebori, a fungus that shows up as black spots all over the hellebore leaves. It kills the cells in the leaves to make space for its own fruiting bodies, which then sprinkle their little creepy spores all over the stems and soil- making them hard to get rid of.
As if that one wasn’t enough, Hellebore’s also have their own brand of black death, Helleborus net necrosis virus, which causes distinctive black streaks and rings all over the leaves and sepals of the plant, can cause severe deformities and stunted growth in all hellebore varieties.
As if that weren’t bad enough, hellebores are also prone to specific mites and other pests, which would be enough to drive any gardener absolutely batty.
Lucky for them, hellebores have long been touted as a cure for madness.
This can be traced back to a story in Greek mythology, with problematic party god- dionysus. The story goes that our guy showed up in argus looking for a good time, and found it in a group of women looking to worship him…if you know anything about dionysus, you know that he tends to bring chaos and craziness everywhere he goes, so it should come as no shock that within a few days of worship these ladies went completely mad. Luckily for them, their friend Melampus had a cure for the literal rager brought on by dionysus. To put their madness to an end, he mixed a beverage made from the steeped roots of hellebore. Upon drinking it, the delirium came to an end for the wild women of argus.
Meanwhile, mortals in ancient greek were turning to hellebore for more…strategic purposes..one thing to note here is that just like the vast majority of buttercup blooms, hellebore is poisonous.
When people ingest this position, it tends to act as a diuretic, causing nausea, stomach cramping, and diarrhea.
With that in mind, hellebore was turned to as one of their first instances of biological warfare in the so called “sacred war” of 895-885 bce.
To set the stage, the Amphictyonic League of Delphi, made up of several greek states, had grown kind of sick of the bullies in Kirrha being judgemental and shitty to the pilgrims who were simply passing through…its obviously more complicated than that, but in essence they all decided that they were a little tired of dealing with these meanies, and felt like they needed a way to put them in their place. So, they decided that maybe making them all shit their pants would be just humbling enough to work.
the Amphictyonic League of Delphi got to work making a VERY toxic tonic with the root of hellebore, which they carefully dripped into the water supply in Kirrha…within a few hours, the air was filled with farts and groaning as the people started their day and lightly poisoned themselves without even knowing.
Luckily it takes a LOT of the poison to kill anyone, so while it was certainly a terrible time, no one died in this specific attack.
With that in mind, it should really come as no surprise that hellebore was turned to in a variety of pagan practices to expel evil or unwanted energies.
In spellwork, the plant is often called upon to cast out evil spirits and cleanse a space, Though most are not burning or ingesting the plant as it is toxic and clearly very capable of wreaking havoc on the body.
In our favorite passive-aggressive art form and language- floriography, hellebore was said to represent delirium and craziness, making them a very interesting way to piss off an inlaw or naysayer in your life…which is honestly kind of a bummer to me, since I really love this flower, and it would have also been one of the only options folks had when it was chilly and sad outside.
That being said, Valentines day is coming up, so if you want to cause a massive stir in your family or friend group, or just send one final message to your Ex, hellebore might just be the way to go.
Outside of telling people off, these blooms could also be picked to tell you the weather. Apparently folx used to pick 12 blooms on december 24th, then take them inside and put them in a vase set aside for each month of the year. If the petals all opened and bloomed nicely, the weather that month would be good. But, if the bloom didn't open, or dropped all of it’s leaves, you were in for some gnarly storms or drought for that period of time. So basically they are like tiny, adorable medieval al rokers, which I LOVE.
In ancient medicine, doctors across a few different cultures turned to hellebore as an an abortifacient and purgative, helping to treat everything from unwanted pregnancy, constipation, and even gout.
We’ve explained this a few times on the show, so I’ll just do a quick recap- essentially this family all contains a blend of toxins referred to as Ranunculosides, which can cause vomiting, heart palpitations, and in extreme cases, death.
While that sounds awful, and today it’s not recommended to ingest hellebore, back then it was a really helpful way to help you to clean out whatever system needed cleaning, without being AS risky as some of the other plants people could use, as while hellebore is toxic, you would have to eat a lot of it to die, so the odds of it killing you or causing long term damage were way less when compared to the other options out there.
Today we really don’t use hellebore for much in medicine, but we DO turn to it as a lovely addition to landscapes, especially in the early days of spring when there aren’t many other plants in bloom!
Aside from that, hellebore also lends some stunning visuals to the horror genre in the form of the british horror magazine Hellebore, which is focused on the witchcraft and folklore of the UK. If you like the vibes of this show and have a dark twisty heart like I do, I KNOW you’ll really get into it! I actually found it in doing research for this show, and I gotta tell you, it’s replaced the carrot museum for my #1 stumbled upon media from reaching the show, and is quickly becoming a general favorite for me! You can check them out at hellebore zine @ big cartel.com
Whether you stumble upone hellebore at your local botanical garden or bookshop, I hope you take a moment to really appreciate all the unique ailments they have been afflicted by, treated, or caused, and stop to say hello to those seemingly ever-lasting blooms. But, maybe don’t send them to your loved ones this month, as they might not share the same appreciation for these droopy delirium-driven darlings.
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgajpd/medicina%20antiqua/sa_hellebore.html
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucgajpd/medicina%20antiqua/sa_hellebore.html
https://thehistorianshut.com/2022/09/01/the-myth-of-dionysus-revenge-against-the-women-of-argos/
