Thursday, July 16, 2020

False Hellebore and Queen’s Cup

Posted today are photographs of two plant-types I captured with my smarter-than-me-phone while on an excursion to the mountains yesterday.

False Hellebore

False hellebore is a striking plant with large, handsomely sculpted leaves.  This plant prefers moist environments and is easily capable of growing to a height of six feet.  Pretty as the plant is, false hellebore is poisonous from head to toe and remains poisonous throughout the growing cycle.


Queen’s Cup

Queen’s cup produces a single but striking white flower.  A member of the lily family, queen’s cup tends to grow in thickly populated and often brushy understories.  I regularly find them in huckleberry patches.  When queen’s cup produce fruit, the result can easily be mistaken for a huckleberry.  I have found a few queen’s cup “berries” in my huckleberry bucket after an earnest picking session.  And, while the queen’s cup fruit is a favorite for grouse, it is considered poisonous to humans.


Queen’s Cup Fruit (Photo: Montana Outdoors)

Mitchell Hegman


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