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Helleborus foetidus L., Stinking Hellebore

Account Summary

Introduction, neophyte, garden escape, very rare, or a possible mis-identification, but very probably now extinct.

21 August 1986; Waterman, T. & Brain, P.J.T.; Derrymacrow Lough, near Crom, Upper Lough Erne.

There is just a solitary record for this often short-lived, but occasionally well-established perennial in Fermanagh. The site for this particular plant record is given as, "grassland and woods to the west and south of the lake". It could be a correct identification of a garden plant naturalised on the Crom Estate, or might possibly be a mis-identification of another naturalised colony of H. viridis (Green Hellebore). It has only been recorded once and therefore very probably has died out.

Both these Helleborus species occupy rather similar semi-shaded wood or scrub habitats, on shallow calcareous soils, and their biology and poisonous properties also closely parallel one another. The most notable differences are the wintergreen leaves of H. foetidus and its very much higher and potentially lethal content of the toxic protoanemonin (Cooper & Johnson 1998).

Elsewhere in Ireland, H. foetidus is a rare, winter-flowering garden escape. Omitting Fermanagh, the Cat Alien Pl Ir lists just seven other Irish VCs with records, including in the North, Cos Tyrone and Armagh (H36 and H37).

Names

Some authorities derive the genus name 'Helleborus' from the Greek 'helein' or 'elein', meaning 'to kill' or 'to injure', and 'bora', meaning 'food', indicating the poisonous properties of the plants (Melderis & Bangerter 1955; Cricheley Plowden 1972). Other writers suggest the name 'helleboros' was the ancient classical Greek name for H. orientale (Gilbert-Carter 1964; Stearn 1972).

The Latin specific epithet 'foetidus' translates as 'stinking' or 'bad smelling' (Gledhill 1985).

The English common name 'Stinking Hellebore', listed above, is a straight translation of the botanical name and as such is a mere book name (Britton & Holland 1886). Other, much more interesting common names with genuine, local folklore connections do exist (Prior 1879; Britten & Holland 1886; Grigson 1955, 1987). These include 'Bear's-foot' and 'He-barfoot' (presumably referring to the digitate leaf shape), and 'Setter' and 'Setterwort', the latter a name used in his early English herbal by John Gerard (1597). The derivation of the 'Setter' names, which are associated with healing cattle, is given in this work under Helleborus viridis and will not be repeated here. Other local English names for H. foetidus with cattle connections are 'Gargut root' (originating in parts of Norfolk), 'gargut' being "a disease incident to calves" (Britten & Holland 1886, p. 199), and 'Ox-heal', from the Anglo-Saxon 'oxnalib', again referring to settering cattle with the plant root (Prior 1879, p. 174).