bellwort

bellwort, any of five species of woodland plants that constitute the genus Uvularia of the family Colchicaceae and are native to eastern North America. They are all low perennials with slender, creeping rootstocks that send up leafy stems from 6 to 20 inches (15 to 50 cm) high. The stems bear large pale yellow flowers, usually solitary and drooping at the ends of the branches, that bloom from April to June. The most conspicuous species is the large-flowered bellwort (U. grandiflora). It bears ovate leaves and narrowly bell-shaped, lemon-yellow, six-parted flowers that are about 1.5 inches (4 cm) long. It is found from Quebec westward to Minnesota and southward to Georgia and Kansas. The somewhat smaller perfoliate bellwort (U. perfoliata), with more pointed leaves, occurs from Quebec and Ontario south to Florida and Mississippi. In these two species, the leaves appear as if impaled upon the stem (i.e., perfoliate). The other three species of bellworts are much smaller and have sessile leaves.