Snow rose

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Snow rose
Snow rose (Helleborus niger)

Snow rose ( Helleborus niger )

Systematics
Order : Buttercups (Ranunculales)
Family : Buttercup Family (Ranunculaceae)
Subfamily : Ranunculoideae
Tribe : Helleboreae
Genre : Nieswurz ( Helleborus )
Type : Snow rose
Scientific name
Helleborus niger
L.

The snow rose , usually called Christmas rose or black hellebore ( Helleborus niger ), is a species of the hellebore ( Helleborus ) in the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). This species and its varieties with its strikingly large, white flowers are primarily known for their early flowering period and their use as an ornamental garden plant .

description

Christmas roses in their natural habitat
Snow roses at the Wilder Kaiser ( Tyrol )
Snow rose still in its very early stage with the calyx closed and lowered

Vegetative characteristics

The black hellebore is an evergreen, perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of 10 to 30 centimeters. It has a black rhizome and black roots . Individuals can live up to 25 years in suitable places.

The foliage leaves with long stalks at the base are “foot-shaped” divided into seven to nine sections. The individual sections are lanceolate with entire or toothed leaf margin. The leathery basal leaves are deep green. There are one to two (rarely three) pale, oval bracts on the stem. The frost-sensitive leaves are protected by snow in their natural location.

Generative characteristics

The main flowering time is from February to April, but depending on the snow and altitude, it can begin in November or end in May. The flowers are terminal and stand individually (rarely in twos or threes) on the mostly unbranched stem. The flower reaches a diameter between 5 and 10 centimeters. The white or reddish flower envelope ( perigon ) is made up of five egg-shaped sepals that have been transformed into a petal-like display device. The bloom bracts are greenish or reddish colored by anthocyanins and remain for a long time.

The actual petals are transformed into yellow to yellow-green, bag-shaped (Austrian: pin-shaped) nectar leaves . These secrete plenty of nectar and smell different and more intense than the flower cover. The numerous, yellow stamens are arranged in a spiral on the elongated flower axis.

From three to eight fused only at the base of carpels develop follicles with numerous seeds. The ripening time of the seeds, which have an oil body ( elaiosome ), falls in early summer.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 32.

ecology

Early fodder plant for butterflies, here an admiral

The black hellebore is a hemicryptophyte .

The pre-female (protogyny) shell flower is pollinated by bees, bumblebees and butterflies as well as pollen-eating insects. The fragrant nectar leaves absorb UV light in contrast to the inflorescence , which attracts UV-visible insects, especially bees and bumblebees.

Because of the very early flowering period, insect pollination is not always guaranteed. The snow rose compensates for this disadvantage by the fact that the scars remain fertile for a long time and, in the worst case, can also absorb their own pollen for self-pollination ( autogamy ).

Since the old leaves die off as soon as they bloom, the bloom cladding sheets form chloroplasts after successful fertilization and take over photosynthesis . The photosynthetic output can be a third of the fully grown leaves and thus enables the fruit to develop. Only after the fruits have ripened do new leaves grow.

The seeds are spread mainly by ants through the fatty appendage . But snails also contribute to the spread.

Schneerose am Hochkar (Lower Austria-Styria) in summer
Follicles: The transformed sepals are already "green".

Occurrence

The natural distribution area includes the eastern northern and southern Alps, westwards to Vorarlberg . Furthermore, Helleborus niger in the Apennines and northern Balkan common. It occurs from the valley to an altitude of 1900 meters. In the Berchtesgaden Alps, Helleborus niger rises to an altitude of 1560 meters. In Germany , Helleborus niger is only native to Bavaria . In the Allgäu Alps, the Helleborus niger is not native . The snow rose is more common in Austria, except in Vienna and Burgenland. In Slovenia, Helleborus niger can be found in the Julian Alps around the Triglav .

As a location, the limestone plant species prefers bushy slopes, light beech and mixed beech forests , but also spruce forests and downy oak forests in the south . It can rise up to the Krummholzzone .

The snow rose can be found mainly in the plant community Seggen-Buchenwald (Carici-Fagetum) and other beech forests (Fagets) of the Eastern Alps, and also in the association of snow heather and pine forests (Erico-Pinion), where it is associated with snow heather ( Erica carnea ) or in the order heat-bound mixed oak forests (Quercetalia pubescenti-petraeae).

Helleborus niger and their varieties are also often cultivated, rarely go wild.

Garden plant

Since the perennial only forms beautiful, densely bushy stands after a few years, Barlage's Large Book of Garden Flowers recommends choosing the location carefully , preferably on the edge of the wood in rock gardens. They need partial shade, humus-rich, well-drained, alkaline soil and sufficient moisture by June. You need eight plants per square meter. In addition to sowing, division of older plants is possible in autumn or after flowering. Snails eat the young shoots.

The snow rose can be found in Central European gardens as early as the 16th century because of its early flowering and its striking white flowers. In 1561 Conrad Gessner described a pink flowered form. The early introduction is also due to the fact that this plant was used in herbal medicine. In the 19th century in particular, cultivars emerged that had larger flowers and a more abundant set of flowers than the wild species . Colorful varieties were created by crossing the oriental hellebore, which is native to Turkey .

There are known varieties with speckled and dotted petals. They look splendid in groups, as the leaves and flowers stand out well against the winter garden.

Conservation and endangerment

The snow rose is specially protected according to the Federal Species Protection Ordinance and classified as endangered according to the Red List Germany (3). The main hazard factors are digging up and collecting the plant. In Austria it is endangered in the area of ​​the western Alps and in the area of ​​the Bohemian Massif . In Upper Austria , the snow rose applies to Upper Austria . NSchG 2001 as a partially protected plant.

Systematics

Helleborus niger occurs in two subspecies that are connected by transitions.

  • Helleborus niger subsp. niger : nominate form with glossy, dark green leaves. The sections of the leaves are widest in the front third and have forward curved teeth on the leaf edge. This subspecies is the much more common and occurs throughout the range of the species.
  • Helleborus niger subsp. macranthus (Freyn) Schiffner : This subspecies has dull, bluish green leaves. The sections of the leaves are widest around the middle and have fine, laterally protruding teeth on the leaf edge. The very small distribution area extends from South Tyrol to Ticino .

Names

Flowering in early March
Flowering in late March

The ancient Greeks called the plant helléboros (έλλεβόρου). The Latin epithet niger refers to the black rhizome of this plant species. The name black hellebore refers to both the black rhizome and its use as a sneeze powder. “Hellebore” alone can mean both the snow rose and the (white) Germer in ancient texts.

The popular name "snow rose" refers to the extremely early flowering period, "Christmas rose" on the other hand to the tradition of cultivating it so that the flowers unfold at Christmas, which is why the plant is also called "Christmas rose". In Austria, the snow rose is also called “Schneebleamal” (snow flower), “March kaibl” and “Kratzenblum”. Other regional names are “Brandwurzel”, “Feuerwurzel”, “Frangenkraut”, “Gillwurz”, “Christmas Rose”, “Winter Rose”.

Toxicity

The plant is particularly poisonous due to ingredients such as saponins and protoanemonin . In the genus Helleborus there are also strong cardiac toxins, Helleborin, and in particular the steroid saponin Hellebrin , which has a strong cardiac effect and can be used in a similar way to the cardiac glycosides of the genus thimbles ( digitalis ). All parts of the plant are poisonous. The strongest Helleborin concentration is found in the rhizome, so that poisoning by snow roses is rarely observed. It is said, “Today the cattle will perish first”.

Poisoning symptoms are dizziness , diarrhea and collapse . They are similar to those of cardiac glycoside poisoning.

Man and snow rose

without flowers
leaves

history

The name elleborum , elleborus (Middle Latin light) has been in use since Plautus and describes two poisonous plants commonly used as hellebore: On the one hand, the white germer ( Veratrum album ) and also the hellebore ( Helleborus ), each known as elleborus albus / candidus or as elleborus niger were known. The distinction by the color adjective is mentioned by Pliny the Elder . The plants were valued above all as a remedy for madness and epilepsy , since according to ancient humoral pathology, mental illnesses were explained by an excess of black bile and sneezing was considered the best remedy.

In Plautus (in Menaechmi 950) the doctor says: " elleborum potabis faxo aliquos viginti dies " (you will drink hellebore for 20 days). The patient replies: “ neque ego insanio ” (but I'm not crazy).

Mentions in the area of ​​ancient Greece refer with great certainty to the round-leaved hellebore ( Helleborus cyclophyllus ), possibly also to the oriental hellebore ( Helleborus orientalis ), since the snow rose is not widespread there. Your area ends on the central Balkan peninsula.

Medicine

Pharmacy jar Extractum Hellebori nigri , Hamburg, first half of the 19th century

The plant "Black Hellebore" ( helleborus niger ), which was described in antiquity and cannot be identified with certainty from today's point of view, was used, for example, as a purge for convulsions and fits of anger as well as "melancholy", as a menstruation-promoting agent, but also as an abortion agent (the possible embryo-killing effect was already Dioskurides known) and against toothache. The root of the "black hellebore" had been officially known as the radix hellebori nigri since the 15th century , although the snow rose was specifically designated as the supplier in the 18th century. It was used as a heart medicine and a diuretic drug. However, as early as the 16th and 17th centuries, herbal books pointed to the toxicity and the risk of overdosing this plant: "Three drops make red, 10 drops make dead".

In the high medieval Compendium Salernitanum (1160–1170) there are references to Helleborus, and Pietro d'Abano (1257–1315) also lists the hellebore in his conciliator . The Circa instans describes the powder obtained from the black hellebore as, based on experience, just as effective against hemorrhoids as the skewer glass powder antimonium . In the early modern period Paracelsus (1493 / 94–1541) mentioned Helleborus niger in the Herbarius as a diuretic , purge and geriatric . Around 1900 R. Wybauw first examined the cardiac effects of Helleborus nigra . However, it was not possible to successfully bring a medical preparation onto the market. The black hellebore is no longer used as a phytotherapeutic, but only in homeopathy. Due to the combination of Hellebrin with protoanemonin and saponins, the plant cannot be used medicinally. Only isolated Hellebrin can be used.

Was from antiquity to the early modern period occasionally with the derived from the Arabic term condisum (album especially Veratrum and Helleborus niger) called Mark hellebore not only as a diuretic, but also menstruation promoting and excess or spoiled juices purgierendes used drugs.

According to Culpeper's Herbal , the Black Hellebore is subordinate to Saturn and is so dark that it is safer to consume it in the preparation of an alchemist than in its pure form. Also, because of the more balanced climate, local roots are better than those from abroad. As Dioscurides had already described in antiquity, the root is good against all types of melancholy , especially those that last for a long time. It also helps against intermittent fever , madness, epilepsy , leprosy , jaundice , gout , sciatica and twitches. Used as a pessary , the root leads to very heavy menstrual bleeding. Sprinkled as a powder on ulcers, it consumes the dead flesh and leads to instant healing. Culpeper also gives a recipe for Christmas rose wine. To do this, two snow lilies are cut into small pieces (two ounces) and mixed with two pounds of Spanish wine that is placed in a vial or sealed bottle in the sun during dog days. Goat's milk helps against poisoning with Hellebore.

Helleborus was famous in ancient times as a laxative and medicinal plant, Melampus is said to have cured the daughters of King Proitus from madness with it. Hippocrates already describes its use, Dioscurides recommends it as a laxative , emmenagogue , for epilepsy , melancholy , fits of anger, gout , paralysis, hearing loss, scabies and as a mouthwash. Medieval herbal books know it. There have also been uses as aging means to extend life. In Matthiolus' New-Kreuterbuch of 1626 it is laxative, bile and expectorant. According to von Haller (1755) it helps "against all stubborn blockages of the portal vein and the spleen" and carries out the "thick melancholy juices". It also occurs at Osiander and Hufeland . The modern age also knows healing reports for depression and psychotrauma with dried up milk and regular flow. Madaus also quotes works on Russian and Czech folk medicine. He considers Helleborus niger to be a good remedy for congestion of the kidneys, uterus and brain, meningitis , eclampsia , epilepsy, hydrocephalus , stuporous psychoses, collapse, dizziness with nausea when stooping. It fits with scarlet nephritis , according to others also with gout, facial pain or inflammation of the testicles . Samuel Hahnemann's Habilitation De helleborismo veterum (1812) contains a section on Helleborus niger , with historical indications such as melancholy, epilepsy, paralysis, joint diseases, liver inflammation and skin diseases. Incidentally, Hahnemann comes to the conclusion that the ancient Greeks only knew Veratrum album as “Helleborus” (έλλεβόρου) until after Hippocrates . The homeopathy uses Helleborus in anxious depression or thought disorder after cerebral hemorrhage . The anthroposophic medicine sees the Christmas rose since Rudolf Steiner as potential cancer for men. For Johannes Wilkens it is one of the greatest remedies.

In folk medicine , the snow rose is still used today as an emetic and laxative as well as against dropsy and urinary retention . The plant was used in veterinary medicine in England in the 17th century as a remedy for coughs and poisoning. To do this, a hole was stuck in the ear of the animal in question, through which a piece of Christmas rose root was stuck for a day and night. Pigs were put in their ears to prevent swine fever .

Pollen magnified 400 times
Illustration in Flora of Germany, Austria and Switzerland by Otto Wilhelm Thomé, Gera 1885
Illustration in the Atlas des plantes de France by A. Masclef, 1891

Others

The green leaves with a firm consistency are available all year round and are easy to cut. They are therefore a popular object in the microscope course for biology students.

The treatment of insane people with Helleborus was proverbial in ancient times. In his satires, Horace advises against the widespread avarice to administer all the hellebore that one finds. According to legend, St. Martin is said to have poisoned himself on the Christmas rose in exile, but survived thanks to prayer. The well-known Christmas carol Es ist ein Ros sprung probably means the Christmas rose . In Wilhelm Hauff's fairy tale The Dwarf Nose (1826) there is a medicinal herb "Sneeze Pleasure". Eduard Mörike wrote Auf eine Christblume (1842). Other poems are Johannes Trojan's The Christmas Rose Raises Her White Head , Hermann Lingg's The White Christmas Rose , Kurt Herthas A rose blooms at Christmas time . In Paolo Mantegazza's flower fairy tale , the betrayed hero, who renounced vengeance, retreats to the mountains, the first snow roses grow around his body. Ludwig Ganghofer's novel Der Klosterjäger (1892) mentions the snow rose as a symbol of eternal life and a remedy. Selma Lagerlöf's Legend of the Christmas Rose (1908) is about grace for a robber mother thanks to the flower in the Christmas garden in the dark forest. In Christian Signol's novel When the Christmas Rose Blooms (2002) it helps to cure leukemia.

literature

  • Heinz-Dieter Krausch : Imperial crown and peonies red ... - Discovery and introduction of our garden flowers. Dölling and Galitz Verlag, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-935549-23-7 .
  • Manfred A. Fischer, Wolfgang Adler, Karl Oswald: Excursion flora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol . 2nd, improved and enlarged edition. State of Upper Austria, Biology Center of the Upper Austrian State Museums, Linz 2005, ISBN 3-85474-140-5 .
  • Gerhard Madaus: textbook of biological remedies. Volume II. Olms, Hildesheim / New York 1976, ISBN 3-487-05891-X , pp. 1526-1532 (reprint of the Leipzig 1938 edition) (online) .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Erich Oberdorfer : Plant-sociological excursion flora for Germany and neighboring areas . With the collaboration of Angelika Schwabe and Theo Müller. 8th, heavily revised and expanded edition. Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart (Hohenheim) 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3131-5 , pp. 396 .
  2. ↑ Wolfram Buff and Klaus von der Dunk: Poisonous plants in nature and the garden. Augsburger Druck und Verlagshaus, Augsburg 1981, ISBN 3-922084-11-7 , p. 49.
  3. ↑ a b c Dieter Heß: Alpine flowers - recognize - understand - protect. Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-8001-3243-5 .
  4. ^ Xaver Finkenzeller: Alpine flowers. Munich 2003, ISBN 3-576-11482-3 .
  5. ↑ Erhard Dörr, Wolfgang Lippert : Flora of the Allgäu and its surroundings. Volume 1, IHW-Verlag, Eching near Munich, 2001, ISBN 3-930167-50-6 , p. 518.
  6. ^ Andreas Barlage, Frank M. von Berger: The great book of garden flowers. Over 2000 perennials, summer flowers, bulb plants and grasses. Ulmer, Stuttgart 2016, ISBN 978-3-8001-3394-9 , pp. 215-216.
  7. ^ Oskar Angerer, Thomas Muer: Alpine plants. Stuttgart 2004, ISBN 3-8001-3374-1 .
  8. ↑ Jaakko Jalas, Juha Suominen: Atlas Florae Europaeae. Volume 8 Nymphaeaceae to Ranunculaceae. Helsinki 1989, ISBN 951-9108-07-6 , p. 29.
  9. ↑ a b c Wendelberger: Alpine plants - flowers, grasses, dwarf shrubs . Munich 1984, ISBN 3-7632-2975-2 .
  10. ↑ Gifte.de: Poisonous plants
  11. ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Birkhäuser, Basel / Boston / Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-7643-2390-6 (reprint ISBN 3-937872-16-7 ).
  12. ↑ Ulrich Stoll: De tempore herbarum. Vegetable remedies as reflected in the herbal collection calendars of the Middle Ages: an inventory. In: Peter Dilg, Gundolf Keil, Dietz-Rüdiger Moser (eds.): Rhythm and Seasonality. Congress files of the 5th Symposium of the Medievalist Association in Göttingen 1993. Sigmaringen 1995, ISBN 3-7995-5404-1 , pp. 347-375, here: p. 360: helleborus niger : Christmas rose (Helleborus niger L.), stinking / green hellebore (Helleborus foetidus L./viridis L.) or Spring Adonis (Adonis vernalis L.)
  13. ↑ Britta-Juliane Kruse: Hellebore and deer root in the Parzival Wolframs von Eschenbach. In: Würzburg medical history reports. Volume 14, 1996, pp. 279-286; here: p. 280.
  14. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke : Hellebore. In: Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil , Wolfgang Wegner (eds.): Enzyklopädie Medizingeschichte . De Gruyter, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-11-015714-4 , p. 1050.
  15. ↑ Konrad Goehl : Observations and additions to the 'Circa instans'. In: Medical historical messages. Journal for the history of science and specialist prose research. Volume 34, 2015 (2016), pp. 69-77, here: p. 71.
  16. ^ Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke, Christoph Friedrich, Ulrich Meyer: Medicinal history . 2., revised. and exp. Edition. Knowledge Verlags-Gesellschaft, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 978-3-8047-2113-5 , p. 72-73 .
  17. ↑ Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke: Hellebore. In: Encyclopedia of Medical History. 2005, p. 1050.
  18. ↑ Udo Benzenhöfer : Johannes' de Rupescissa Liber de consideratione quintae essentiae omnium rerum German. Studies on Alchemia medica from the 15th to 17th centuries with a critical edition of the text. Stuttgart 1989, p. 126.
  19. ^ Constantinus Africanus : De gradibus quos vocant simplicium liber. In: Constantini Africani post Hippocratem et Galenum ... Basel 1536, pp. 342–387; here: p. 383.
  20. ↑ Lynn Thorndike and Francis S. Benjamin Jr. (Eds.): The herbal of Rufinus. Chicago 1945 (= Corpus of mediaeval scientific texts , 1), p. 104.
  21. ↑ a b c Nicholas Culpeper: Culpeper's Complete Herbal. A book of remedies for ancient ills . Ware, Wordsworth 1995, p. 132.
  22. ^ Nicholas Culpeper: A catalog of simples in the New Dispensatory. In: Culpeper's Complete Herbal. A book of remedies for ancient ills . Ware, Wordsworth 1995, p. 415.
  23. ^ Gerhard Madaus: Textbook of biological remedies. Volume II. Olms, Hildesheim / New York 1976, ISBN 3-487-05891-X , pp. 1526–1532 (reprint of the Leipzig 1938 edition) (online)
  24. ↑ Josef M. Schmidt, Daniel Kaiser (Ed.): Samuel Hahnemann. Collected Little Writings. Haug, Heidelberg 2001, ISBN 3-8304-7031-2 , pp. 552-637.
  25. ^ Roger Morrison: Handbook of Key Homeopathic Symptoms and Confirmatory Symptoms. 2nd Edition. Kai Kröger Verlag, Groß Wittensee 1997, ISBN 3-9801945-5-8 , pp. 320–323.
  26. ↑ Johannes Wilkens: The healing power of the Christmas rose. 2nd Edition. AT Verlag, Aarau / Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-03800-831-6 .
  27. ↑ Johannes Wilkens: News on the healing power of the Christmas rose. In: Nature and Medicine. No. 6, November / December 2015, pp. 4–7.
  28. ↑ a b Ruprecht Düll , Herfried Kutzelnigg : Pocket dictionary of plants in Germany. A botanical-ecological excursion companion to the most important species. 6th, completely revised edition. Quelle & Meyer, Wiebelsheim 2005, ISBN 3-494-01397-7 .
  29. ↑ http://www.bibliothek.uni-regensburg.de/christrose Universitätsbibliothek Regensburg, 2011.
  30. ↑ Johannes Wilkens: The healing power of the Christmas rose. 2nd Edition. AT Verlag, Aarau / Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-03800-831-6 , pp. 16, 26-27, 33, 50, 62-63, 81-82, 99.

Web links

Commons : Schneerose ( Helleborus niger )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wiktionary: Christmas rose  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations