Advent Calendar: 2 December – Christmas Rose
Christmas Rose or Helleborus niger from the first volume of Curtis’s botanical magazine, 1787 (rper QK1.C8M2 Volume 1). Despite its name, the Christmas Rose is not really a Rose but is rather from the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). The common name is thought to stem from a legend that the flower sprouted from the tears of a young Jewish girl who had no gift to give the infant Jesus in Bethlehem.
Curtis’s botanical magazine was first published in 1787 and continues to this day, published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.