White Hellebore

A perennial plant, 50 – 150 cm tall, with dense foliage, its flowers are arranged in rich, top-curved panicles, with green petals. It flowers from June to August. The fruit is a capsule. The root is very toxic, and in the past was used for leechcraft. The Czech popular name (“sneezing flower”) alludes to the fact that the powder from this plant’s rhizomes is a strong mucosal irritant that triggers sneezing attacks. It grows on mountain meadows and pastures, in stands of crooked wood or open forests, in hilly to mountainous terrain.