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Helleborus purpurascens, Waldstein & Kitaibel (1802)

  • Perennial, pubescent; 2-8 inches in flower
  • Leaves palmate, serrate with 10-25 segments; not overwintering
  • Flowers purple-brown-green; 2-3" in diameter
  • Romania, Hungary, E. Czechoslovakia, Poland, Ukraine
  • Woodland, edges; elevation 450-2000'

Like other acaulescent hellebores, this species can show considerable
variation, but generally it causes less confusion throughout most of its range
than many members of the Helleborastrum group.

Its flowers are large (up to three inches in diameter) and colorful. Usually, the
sepals carry purple tones, along with blue or slate or pink mixed in. They can
be anywhere between reddish-purple and greenish-brown. The interior may
be less saturated with color than the outer surface of the sepals as in many
other hellebores. The flowers often begin to open near ground level and
continue as the flower stalk extends upward, but this feature is not unique to
H. purpurascens, nor is it always the case in this species.

Leaves are often bold with overlapping leaflets and may be one foot across,
but in many cases they also are also quite divided, giving an open
appearance. Five leaflets is typical, with each further divided for around half
their lengths. Plants have a tendency to be palmate, with a general outline that
is round and fairly symmetrical. All around, H. purpurascens is a wonderful
plant for gardens and is likely to attract more attention than other species due
to its interesting color shades (on sepals and nectaries), size, and not least of
all its name.

Unfortunately, as is often the case with hellebores, plants sold under the
name 'purpurascens' are not always accurate representations of the species. I
once purchased a plant years ago labelled H. purpurascens 'Purple Power'. It
is almost certainly a hybrid, and may have derived from H. purpurascens, but
there is no reason to assume this to be the case. There is certainly nothing
'powerful' about it. It is considerably more pink than purple, and some years
looks magenta. It also has rather large floral bracts. The leaves sometimes
overwinter, whereas in H. purpurascens, leaves begin to go dormant by late
autumn in my garden. It is likely that in some cases, 'purple' flowered plants
have attracted the purpurascens epithet wrongly.

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Further reading:

Mathew and McLewin. "Hellebores 5: Helleborus purpurascens", The New
Plantsman, Vol. 4, Part 4, December 1997. 175-179.


Hungarian H. pupurescens.
Photo by Tim Murphy (click
to enlarge).