during a stroll Sunday we went to the Slovenian town of Veliko Polje. In that neighborhood we had a little stop to visit an old ruined church in the woods, which could be seen from the road.
Right in the woods near the church we found a 'more beautiful flower of the forest is particularly Worried hellebore (Helleborus multifidus).
Right in the woods near the church we found a 'more beautiful flower of the forest is particularly Worried hellebore (Helleborus multifidus).
As the primrose hellebore also uses the rhizome as an energy reserve to come up early in the year. The
infiorescienza is pendula and is composed five green sepals showy, coming up to 3-4 cm in size.
If you look closely you can see the center of these petals, very small, practically atrophied, in amounts varying from 8 to 12. The petals fomano a circle around the anthers, which are in large numbers (up to fifty!), And stigmas (ten).
Helleborus name in greek means "poisonous meal": in fact this small map is very poisonous! It contains three substances are highly toxic: the elleborina the elleboreina and aconitic acid. The first two are not destroyed by drying, hence a dry flower hellebore is poisonous - another reason to admire the flower leaving it there where it is, without touching it.
was used in folk medicine as a remedy for the itch, as a vermifuge and as a purgative, due to its toxicity, however, very often we run away the dead! The hellebore can cause death in minutes with seizures, diarrhea and delirium - a very undesirable end!
This should warn against reckless use at plants such as dressing DIY: contrary to what many believe, not everything that is natural is healthy and harmless!
course, a poison in the right amount can also be a great drug, but the amount of active ingredient contained in a plant varies not only from the collection of the plant (leaves, roots, flowers, fruits) but also from sample to sample: a flower grown in a dry environment may contain twice as active than another flower of the same species grown in a humid and rainy.
So to take full advantage of the benefits of natural medicine is always better to rely on the advice of an expert, avoiding gurus, rumors and experiments DIY!