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As in most helleborus species, there is a goodly amount of variation to be found within H. foetidus. Plant hunters and gardeners have been selecting forms and cultivars of this species for decades. All forms of this hellebore, that I am aware of, are grown from seed. That means within each batch of seedlings a percentage will need to be discarded to maintain the integrity of the particular seed strain, and stay worth of its namesake. Not all nurseries will force this discipline upon themselves and individual gardeners may not be aware, so it pays to check your plant against a good photo or description of a particular form.

All of the forms and cultivars require the same exposure, soil and moisture level requirements as the species. All should certainly be as hardy as their parents and be reliable performers into zone 5.

Helleborus foetidus 'Wester Flisk'

H. foetidus "Wester Flisk" is one of the oldest, and probably the most well known, forms to show up in mail-order nursery catalogs. Since its original selection others have gone on to do improvements in the amount of color in the stems and foliage. There are truly some lovely plants, and some less-desirable, traveling under the Wester Flisk name. The best of forms will have finely divided leaves of grayish-green. There must be a deep red-tint to the main stems that reaches up into the leaf petioles. The best forms will have this red color reaching up into the flower heads. I have ordered this form on three different occasions and grown it form seed, but have as yet to keep one for my garden. Thus far I have not found that "perfect" form described in literature. To be fair, I am told that the amount of color showing up in plant can vary from year to year depending upon the amount of moisture this form receives. Wet years it has little color, years that are on the dry side give more red in the stems.

Will McLewin, the famous helleborus expert from England, collected seedlings from H. foetidus growing near Sopron in Hungary. From those seedlings a form was selected and named "Sopron". Foliage will have a dark metallic sheen and overall size will be considerably larger and more robust as opposed to the species. Bloom form will be more open as opposed to cup-shaped. The bracts will be narrow and both the bracts and the flower will be paler in color than the species.

"Silvertooth" is a spontaneous selection from a garden worth of cultivar status. I have only seen a single photo of the plant foliage with no blooms present. On a scale of one to ten on the lust-quotient, I would assign a definite twelve. To make it even more desirable, it is not truly available in commerce as yet. "Silvertooth" is described as "Very dramatic silvery leaves with exaggerated dentation on the leaf margins. Large size and stature and really catches everyone's attention as being quite unique". Amen.

H. foetidus "Red Silver" was selected out of seedlings in a garden on the west coast nursery. I saw a photo of the original plant in a "what's new" column in a gardening magazine last year. Now I see the plant popping up at other nurseries over on the west coast. Unfortunately, the nursery does not do mail-order with sales at his nursery only. However, I do know that "Red Silver" form has jumped the hills and can be found as seedlings here on the east coast. It won't be long now before his selection begins to show up in some of the better catalogs.

This stain is described as blooming with a red edge to the bells, and foliage very narrow in outline. The foliage color is silver with some red showing at the base of the stems.

There are several more named forms listed in the three helleborus books that I have on my library shelf. Names such as "Bowles Form", "Green Giant", "Sienna", and "Miss Jeckyll" are given short descriptions. Thus far I have only seen "Miss Jeckyll" make an appearance in a US mail- order catalog. Perhaps the others will eventually work themselves into general trade, if they are deserving of the distribution and attention. I am also sure there are numerous other named forms out there that I am simply not aware of thus far. Whatever the case, there are no "bad" forms of the species foetidus.