False Hellebore can grow to up to 6 1/2 feet tall. The wetland indicator status of this plant is FACW which means this plant is primarily found in freshwater wetlands. False Hellebore is part of the Lily family of plants.
For the past few months I have been creating articles on the native plants found in the northeast region (NJ). I love the opportunity to share interesting facts and other information for people to discover something new about the forests they wander when they go hiking. If this is considered “spam” please let me know and I will not post any more articles here. Thank you!
@njurbanforest1, I don’t think it’s spam, but forum posts should ideally be the start of a discussion rather than only directing people to outside content. Maybe pose a question or present the subject from a viewpoint that would be interesting to our international iNat community? (If everyone shared links to their favorite latest blog posts I think it would become a bit unmanageable and take away from the community discussions here.) Thanks for thinking about this!
I’ve been observing this plant for a couple of years in Vermont, and yes, it is very fond of wetlands. However, recently I discovered that its range is bimodal: http://bonap.net/MapGallery/County/Veratrum%20viride.png
Observations from the state of Washington indicate a much drier habitat, which is curious. I don’t know if that’s typical in the western half of its range. If anyone has more to add, please do.
Thank you so much bouteloua! I really appreciate your feedback on this matter. I will take your advice going forward.
That is interesting. I would be curious to know why its western counterpart prefers dry habitat vs. its eastern cousin.
Where Veratrum viride ssp. eschscholtzii occurs in Alberta in the mountains, it’s found in wet-ish habitats, e.g. drainages in the subalpine forest, wet/moist alpine meadows.
Here in the Southern Appalachians, you either find Veratrum viride in wet seeps deep in forest shade, or boldly out in the open on grassy balds and rocky outcrops on top of mountains. Those exposed higher elevation sites often get a lot of fog though (one of the sites is aptly named “Cloudland”) so they probably get what moisture they need from that.
The one that people commonly call false hellebore around here that grows in dry forests usually is Appalachian Bunchflower (Veratrum parviflorum).
In Vermont, Veratrum viride is usually in seepy wetlands but it can sometimes be on drier flood terraces on sandy soil.
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