By
the time we notice the plant in bloom, however, its bract-like
spathe has usually fallen away, as if conscious that the pretty
mosaic club of golden florets, so attractive in itself, was quite
able to draw all the visitors needed without further help. Merely
by crawling over the clubs, flies and midges cross-fertilize
them.
PERFOLIATE BELLWORT; STRAW BELL
(Uvularia perfoliala) Bunch-flower family
Flowers - Fragrant, pale yellow, about 1 in. long, drooping
singly (rarely 2) from tips of branches; perianth narrow,
bell-shaped, of 6 petal-like segments, rough within, spreading at
the tip; 6 stamens; 3 styles united to the middle. Stem: 6 to 20
in. high, smooth, shining, forking about half way. Leaves:
Apparently strung on the slender stem, oval, tapering at tip.
Preferred Habitat - Moist, rich woods; thickets.
Flowering Season - May-June.
Distribution - Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, west to Mississippi.
Hanging like a palate (uvula) from the roof of a mouth, according
to imaginative Linnaeus, the little bellwort droops, and so
modestly hides behind the leaf its footstalk pierces that the eye
often fails to find it when so many more showy blossoms arrest
attention in the May woods.
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