Country diary: A rare plant with a sense of the dramatic | Mark Cocker

Cromford, Derbyshire: The stinking hellebore is intricate, strange, exquisitely symmetrical - and poisonous. And this patch of them has one hell of a viewIt's surely the most unattractive name for any rare British flower. It is, however, about as unforgettable as the organism itself: stinking hellebore is a beast of a plant. This big perennial has fleshy, lime-coloured upper parts that can grow as high as 80cm. Yet, oddly, the basal leaves are so unalike that it's as if they arise from a different species. The latter are narrow, darkest emerald and serrated along their blade-like edges, but most noteworthy is that they are actinomorphic - symmetrical in more than a single plane. These pioneer plants, before they acquire the flowering shoots, create the most intricate yet equal-halved spheres.I'd name it the most attractive aspect, were it not for the singularity of the flowers, which are in bloom right now. Indeed, some southern European relatives are at their best by November. The flowers grow in globular bunches like unripe waxy tomatoes or, better still, like vegetative testicles, with their heads faced directly downwards. Along the lowest edge of this luminous lime ball is a pencil-line of exquisite burgundy. Continue reading...