The apple green flowers of this stout perennial add welcome colour in the Woodland Garden.
A native of Corsica and Sardinia, Helleborus argutifolius is a distinctive species with leathery, dark green leaves comprised of three spiny leaflets. It is from these that the species takes its name argutifolius, which means bearing spiny toothed leaves, and which earn it the common name of holly-leaved hellebore. In late winter and early spring cymes of many bowl-shaped pale green flowers with a central boss of many stamens, and these persist into early summer. This is one of the larger of the 15 species of Helleborus, exceeding 1m in height, and thriving in neutral to alkaline soil in dappled shade.