Alternate name: American False Hellebore, Green False Hellebore

Family: Liliaceae, Lily view all from this family

Description A stout plant with large leaves clasping stem that bears a branching cluster of greenish, star-shaped, hairy flowers.
Flowers: about 1/2" (1.3 cm) wide; sepals 3, petal-like, petals 3; stamens 6, curved.
Leaves: 6-12 (15-30 cm) long, 3-6" (8-15 cm) wide; large, plaited, parallel veined.
Fruit: 3-lobed capsule.
Height: 2-7' (60-210 cm).

Warning Plants of the genus Veratrum are toxic to humans and animals if ingested. Both the rootstock and foliage of this species are poisonous. Although the latter has a burning taste and is usually avoided by animals, it can be lethal. Sensitivity to a toxin varies with a person’s age, weight, physical condition, and individual susceptibility. Children are most vulnerable because of their curiosity and small size. Toxicity can vary in a plant according to season, the plant’s different parts, and its stage of growth; and plants can absorb toxic substances, such as herbicides, pesticides, and pollutants from the water, air, and soil.

Flower May-July.

Habitat Swamps, wet woods, and meadows.

Range New Brunswick, Quebec, and New England; south to Maryland and, in uplands, to Georgia and Tennessee; west to Minnesota.

Discussion The ribbed, yellow-green leaves of this wetland plant are conspicuous in spring; the plant withers away before summer. It is said that some Native American chiefs were selected only if they survived eating this poisonous plant. The two other false hellebores in the East have hairless flowers: Small-flowered Veratrum (V. parviflorum), with leaves stalked and mostly basal, occurs in drier woods from Virginia to Georgia, eastern Tennessee, and West Virginia. Wood's False Hellebore, (V. woodii), with greenish-purple to blackish-purple flowers, is found in dry woods from Ohio to Missouri and Oklahoma, and in Iowa.