Not hellebore, not false hellebore, but helleborine. This one's an orchid though, so pretty easy to tell apart the similarly-named lilies.
Also, thanks for the tip, randomtruth! No Piperia of fringecups, but I'd actually never seen this orchid before either (even though it was ubiquitous), so still a win.
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I have been told, this one is sometimes called 'weed-orchid', as it is rather difficult to get rid of if you want to.
But I have a far-from-common garden, and (almost) all natives are heartily welcomed, so I'm glad this one came to my garden... And although my father always told it is the only 'ugly' orchid, I think she's quite pretty, when seen up-close...
I agree, they are quite pretty. However, they grow very aggressively out here (for an orchid). Sort of a beautiful attacking army.
I fear that is the problem with many European natives that have been introduced (accidentally or not) in the states...
I'm just reading 'Noah's garden - Restoring the ecology of our own back yards', and the author (Sara Stein) makes the assumption that European natives had a huge benefit over the American natives after colonization: The European natives were already used to a disturbed soil, and that was an advantage for invading your country...
(However... we are dealing with the American Prunus serotina, Quercus rubra... who are invasive over here.)
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