Sessile-leaf bellwort

Description

Uvularia sessilifolia, the sessile bellwort, sessileleaf bellwort, little merrybells or wild oats, is a species of bellwort native to eastern and central North America. It grows in woodlands with wet or dry soils. The strap-like leaves are sessile on the stem. The flowers are yellow, narrowly bell-shaped, and creamy yellow, blooming in spring. The leaves have no hairs on the margin and are somewhat narrow, distinguishing this plant from the similar Streptopus. They spread asexually by means of long under ground stolons with most plants in a clonal colony not flowering. Flowering plants often do not set seed, but when plants form seeds they are in three angled fruits. The native range extends from the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to Nova Scotia, west to Texas, The Dakotas and Manitoba. Uvularia sessilifolia 'Blizzard' is a cultivated form with misty variegated foliage. Uvularia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Colchicaceae, which is closely related to the lily family (Liliaceae). They are commonly called bellworts, bellflowers or merrybells. The genus name is derived from the Latin ūvula meaning "little grape," likely because of the way the flowers hang downward. For the same reason Uvularia may also refer to the similarly derived palatine uvula, which hangs down from the soft palate in the mouth. The plants are often found growing on wooded slopes or in ravines and they spread by stolons, or stoloniferous rhizomes. The plants are usually 45–60 cm (18–24 in) in height and bear one or two flowers per stem in April and May, that hang downward from the axils of the leaves. Uvularia species are herbaceous perennials with erect, simple or twice branched stems. Leaves alternate, sessile or perfoliate. Single or sometimes paired flowers hang downward from the top of the stems appearing axillary but are in fact terminal. They bloom in spring with bell shaped flowers composed of long tepals.