As the earth developed the ancestors of the present helleborus could be found from South Asia to the west coast of the Primordial Mediterranean Sea.

The climatic changes between warm and cold allowed the plant to develop the ability to delay growing and flowering time. Helleborus are able to reduce cell pressure in cold weather. This effect can be reversed with increasing temperatures. You can see this phenomenon in the morning after a frosty night when the leaves and flowers are hanging limp on the ground and with increasing temperatures they straighten up completely.

The natural distribution of the genus helleborus is limited on the northern hemisphere including Europe and Asia. The highest concentration of helleborus can be found around the Baltic Ocean and also the coasts of the Black Sea.

There are two species that differ from these origins: H. thibetanus and H. vesicarius. H. vesicarius grows between the border of Syria and Turkey. H. thibetanus comes from China.

To get more information about the origins of the different helleborus species please click at the respective names at the right side of the world map.