Hellebore (Helleborus purpurascens ‘Red Power’)

Features and Characteristics

Helleborus purpurescens is a clump-forming perennial that is native from Hungary and Poland to the Balkans. It typically grows to 12-18″ tall and is noted for its glossy, leathery, dark green basal leaves and its showy late winter bloom of 5-petaled, light purple and gray flowers that are often flushed with pink. Although many of the hellebores have evergreen foliage, the leaves of this species are not evergreen, with plants usually going briefly dormant by late fall to early winter. New flowers (to 2-3″ diameter) bloom in stalked cymes (2-4 flowers each) during the period of late winter to early spring (March-April in St. Louis) before the new leaves emerge. Leaves, stems and roots are poisonous.

Genus name comes from the Greek words bora meaning “food” and helein meaning “injures/destroys” in reference to the plant’s toxic leaves, stems and roots which are poisonous to humans if ingested.

Specific epithet means tending to purple.

‘Red Power’ features cup-shaped maroon-red flowers. Leaves are usually palmate with 5 leaflets, each of which is deeply divided into 2-6 lance-shaped segments.