Date: 8th July 2022

Presenter: Primož Vidovič

Book: Plessner, Helmuth. Levels of Organic Life and the Human.

Chapter: VII. The Sphere of the Human (second half, 287-321)

*featured image: Black false hellebore (Veratrum nigrum, sl. črna čmerika) belongs to the bunchflower family (Melanthiaceae, sl. čmerikovke). In Slovenia, it is most widespread in Primorska, especially in Posočje, but it can also be found in the western part of Notranjska and along the river Sava in Zasavje. Otherwise, its distribution is Eurasian-wide: from France to Greece in the Mediterranean, Poland to Ukraine in the Eastern Europe, and in Asia from southern parts of Russia, through Kazakhstan and Mongolia to northern China and Korea. It flowers in July and August, and its dark blossoming, along with its sturdy, tall silhouette, embellishes it with a mysterious splendour, a fortiori more prominent if the onlooker knows of the plant’s toxicity.

I’ve encountered this beauty under a rockface atop the Čaven nad Krnico on Trnovo Forest Plateau.