GREATER BELLWORT (Wood Merrybells) 



Uvularia grandiRora Sm. 



April Vvularia, the old botanists called it, because, said they, 



Woods, hills searching for something with which to compare the 

 ])lant. "The flowers hang, like the uvula or palate." 

 This seems to be a very prosaic reason for naming a light and airy spring 

 flower with its gold bells twinkling through the woods when April once 

 again is on the land. 



From smootli lirown slieaths protecting the young shoots, the stems 

 grow rapidly from the rich earth of a moist, ferny hillside. These are 

 smooth and grey-green with parallel veins, and apparently grow with the 

 stem piercing the leaf. This is called a perfoliate leaf and is one of the 

 best ways to identify the bellwort, either in Idoom or out of bloom. From 

 the bending, thin stems hang the tight, gTeen-yellow buds which open to 

 form six-paited, bright yellow flowers which last for some time in the 

 spring woods. The flowers finally fall away and there appear tight, three- 

 angled fruits which remain on the stalks all summer long. 



The flowers of the l)ellwort, come apart in the plan of three, which 

 marks it a lily. Inside the narrow l)ell there is a deep, honey-bearing 

 groove, bordered on each side l)y a thick ridge. Here insects which have 

 come for bellwort nectar must sip, and then back out, scraping off pollen 

 on their wings and backs as they go. Then they carry the pollen to an- 

 other bellwort, ])ollination of the flower is accomplished, and the seeds 

 soon will form. 



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