Helleborus niger, commonly called Christmas rose or black hellebore, is an evergreen perennial flowering plant in the buttercup family, Ranunculaceae. It is poisonous. Although the flowers resemble wild roses (and despite its common name), Christmas rose does not belong to the rose family (Rosaceae).
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Compounds documented for Helleborus niger across natural-product and food-composition databases — not just the ~150 nutrients on a classic label ("nutritional dark matter").
💊 Medicinal use documented
Compound class profile5 classes
Usnic acid and derivatives4
Depsides3
Depsidones3
Shikimic acids and derivatives $ Simple phenolic acids2
Bufadienolides1
Documented compounds36 total
Compound
Class
Amount
Source
FAT
352,000 ppm
DukesPhytochem
PROTEIN
212,000 ppm
DukesPhytochem
05DNA & barcoding4 specimens
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Helleborus niger has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens4
Marker genes3
GenBank sequences6
eDNA detections3
Countries2
The DNA barcodea real sequence read deposited for this species
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★matK1★rbcL4★ITS1
plant barcodefungal barcode
06Genome at a glanceCCDB · GoaT
The complete instruction manualHelleborus niger carries — its genome. We read it from three angles — how big it is, how the DNA is packed into chromosomes, and how completely it has been sequenced — and explain how to read each value as you go.
Genome sizehow big the whole instruction manual is
Genome size13 838 700 000 bp
Measured in base pairs (bp) — the individual letters of DNA (human ≈ 3.2 Gb, a bacterium a few million). The chart places this genome on a logarithmic scale — each step to the right is ten times bigger — among reference organisms. Across species a bigger genome loosely tracks with larger cells, slower growth and lower-energy lifestyles (powered flight favours small genomes) — yet it does not imply more genes or a more advanced organism (the long-standing C-value paradox).
BACTERIUM Carsonella ruddii0.00016 Gb
FUNGUS0.04 Gb
INSECT0.25 Gb
HUMAN3.2 Gb
THIS GENOME Helleborus niger13.84 Gb
WHEAT17 Gb
FERN Tmesipteris160.45 Gb
Chromosomes & ploidyhow the DNA is packaged
2n is the full chromosome count in a normal body cell; n is a gamete (egg or sperm), which carries half. Ploidy is how many complete chromosome sets each cell holds — 2× (diploid) is typical for animals, while higher levels (polyploidy) are common in plants. Click any value below to see the underlying records and sources.
CCDB · ita-fl — D'AMATO G., BIANCHI G. - 1989. Heterochromatin and Ag-NOR staining in some species of Helleborus (Ranunculaceae).. Caryologia , 42(1): 19-26.
CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Druskovic, B. & M. Lovka. 1995. IOPB chromosome data 9. Int. Organ. Pl. Biosyst. Newslett. (Zurich) 24: 15–19.
CCDB · book-ipcn67-71 — LOVKA, M., F. SUSNIK, A. LOEVE, & D. LOEVE. 1971. In IOPB chromosome number reports XXXIV. Taxon 20: 785-797:-
CCDB · book-fedorov — Langlet 1927a, 1932
CCDB · book-fedorov — Kurita 1956b
CCDB · kew — Temsch EM, Temsch W, Ehrendorfer-Schratt L, Greilhuber J. 2010. Heavy metal pollution, selection, and genome size: The species of the Žerjav study revisited with flow cytometry. Journal of Botany 2010: Article ID 596542, 11 pages.
CCDB · ipcn-api-dl — Niklas, L. 2000. In C. Dobea & E.Vitek, Documented Chromosome Number Checklist of Ausrian Vascular Plants. Verlag des Naturhistorischen Museums Wien, Vienna.
Ploidy records — measured levels and diploid/polyploid inferences · click for sources
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy92% within 1 km
≤100 m 11 409≤1 km 20 254≤10 km 2 486>10 km 178
34 327 georeferenced · 4 435 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor38 762
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy30% within 1 km
≤100 m 19≤1 km 50≤10 km 157>10 km 4
230 georeferenced · 278 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence508
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
Coordinate accuracy50% within 1 km
≤100 m 1≤1 km 1≤10 km 2
4 georeferenced · 3 without coordinates
Open the mapnot free-living7
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions29 of 63 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Salzburg, AT
111
LDlocation not on record
35
Oskarshamn, SE
29
Bern, CH
25
Mlocation not on record
24
GJOlocation not on record
24
Paris, FR
17
MeiseBGlocation not on record
16
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznańlocation not on record
14
BFLlocation not on record
13
Museum Ludovicae Ulricae, Zoology Institute of the University of Uppsalalocation not on record
13
Provincia di Livornolocation not on record
12
Görlitz, DE
9
SLU Artdatabankenlocation not on record
8
GZUlocation not on record
7
BIO-UNIPIlocation not on record
6
Christchurch, NZ
5
UGentlocation not on record
4
SZUlocation not on record
4
ULBF-AGRlocation not on record
3
Porrentruy, CH
3
KMNlocation not on record
3
Tampere, FI
3
BClocation not on record
3
Wlocation not on record
3
Dekalb, US
2
Riverside, US
2
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
2
Bronx, US
2
CJBGlocation not on record
2
Tilburg, NL
2
CICYTEXlocation not on record
2
BDBClocation not on record
2
Institut und Museum fuer Geologie und Palaeontologielocation not on record
2
BRNUlocation not on record
2
PRClocation not on record
2
Denver, US
2
University of Stellenboschlocation not on record
1
Davenport, US
1
Santa Barbara, US
1
Berlin, DE
1
Mohonk Preservelocation not on record
1
Dresden, DE
1
WTUlocation not on record
1
San Luis Obispo, US
1
Podgorica, ME
1
Monastir, TN
1
College Park, US
1
Tampa, US
1
Uppsala, SE
1
Royal Botanical Gardenslocation not on record
1
DBF-NHMDlocation not on record
1
Saint Louis, US
1
EL PASO, US
1
Long Beach, US
1
Columbia, US
1
Staatliches Museum fuer Naturkunde Karlsruhe (State Museum of Natural History)location not on record
1
Museo civico di Storia naturale Giacomo Doria di Genova | Giacomo Doria Natural History Museum in Genoalocation not on record
1
Glarus, CH
1
MAlocation not on record
1
Boise, US
1
GBS RAN - Glavny Botanichesky Sad Rossijskoj Akademii Nauklocation not on record
1
PrivatHerblocation not on record
1
63 institutions · 444 of 508 vouchered records shown · 61 without an institution code
Cultivated / Captivenot free-living
A living individual in a botanical garden, zoo or nursery — cultivated or kept, not free-living.
09Environmental DNA3 detections
Where the DNA of Helleborus niger was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found3
Studies independent surveys1
Countries1
Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 3 detections have coordinates
Open the map1 country0
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median10.5 °C 10.5–10.5
Seasonal swing summer↔winter20.5 °C
Max temp (day)14.3 °C
Min temp (night)5.50 °C
Precipitation100 mm/mo
Air humidity61.8 %
Moisture balance22.7 mm/mo
Vapour deficit543 Pa
Wind speed2.50 m/s
Cloud cover44.9 %
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 1 detection point · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation12 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility39 419 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI3 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics4 specimens↗
NCBIUS National Library of Medicinesequences↗
dukesphytochemcompounds
LOTUSNatural Products (Wikidata)compounds↗
NPASSNat. Product Activity & Species Sourcecompounds↗
GRIN TaxonomyUSDA-ARSdistribution & uses↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
CCDBChromosome Counts DB · Tel Aviv U.genome & karyotype↗
GoaTGenomes on a Tree · Sangergenome & karyotype↗
PloiDBPloidy Databasegenome & karyotype
Paleobiology DatabasePBDB consortiumfossil record↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗