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Uvularia floridana

(Florida Bellwort)

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Common Names in English:

Florida Bellwort, Florida Merrybells

Description

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Genus Uvularia

Herbs, caulescent , glabrous or pubescent , from short or elongate rhizomes bearing several fibrous or thickened roots . Stems simple or 1-branched, excluding flower-bearing branches, strongly angled or rounded , with sheathing , papery bracts proximally. Leaves alternate, sessile or perfoliate; blade oblong-linear to oblong-ovate, membranaceous to leathery. Inflorescences 1 per branch , terminal but appearing axillary ; peduncles pendent. Flowers: perianth narrowly campanulate ; tepals promptly deciduous, imbricate, distinct , linear to narrowly oblong , apex obtuse or acute, nectariferous ; stamens distinct to weakly connate at perianth base; filaments dimorphic , glabrous; anthers linear-oblong, extrorse ; connectives present; ovary superior, 3-locular, sessile or stipitate , rounded to sharply triangular; style 1, 3-lobed; stigmas 3, lobed , outwardly arching at maturity. Fruits capsular , greenish to yellowish brown, sessile or stipitate, leathery or submembranaceous, tardily dehiscent , dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds 1-3 per locule, brownish red, globose to ovoid ; arils various. x = 6, 7.

Species 5: e North America.

Uvularia, a genus of attractive, spring-blooming plants , has been divided into sect. Oakesiella (Small) Wilbur with sessile leaves and sect. Uvularia with perfoliate leaves. Differences in other morphological (R. L. Wilbur 1963) and cytological (F. H. Utech 1978d) characters support recognition of these infrageneric groups.

D. K . Wijesinghe and D. F. Whigham (1997, 2001) compared the different, below-ground, vegetative morphologies of three Uvularia species and their relationship to their differing clonal populations and dynamics.[1]

Physical Description

Species Uvularia floridana

Rhizomes elongate , 10-15 cm, fleshy , bearing scattered , fibrous roots ; stolons present. Stem 1, simple , angled distally, 2.5-4 dm, nodes glabrous , bearing 1-2 leaves below lowest branch . Leaf blades sessile, narrowly to broadly elliptic , 4-7(-8.5) × 1.5-3 cm, glabrous abaxially, margins minutely papillose , apex rounded to acute. Flowers 1 per stem; peduncles 0.2-0.8 cm, bearing 1, ovate , leafy bract, 0.7-2.5 cm; tepals pale whitish yellow, 20-30 × 3-4 mm, smooth adaxially, apex acuminate; stamens 10-15 mm; anthers 5-10 mm; connectives 0.5-2 mm; ovary sessile or subsessile , sharply triangular; style 10-15 mm; stigma lobes 3-5 mm. Capsules sessile or subsessile, sharply 3-winged, generally ellipsoid , 2-3.7 × 1-2 cm, apical attenuate beak 4-7 mm. Seeds 3-5 mm; arils crested . 2n = 12. [source]

The 2n = 12 aneuploid chromosome report for Uvularia floridana from Florida's panhandle (F. H. Utech 1978d) represents a reduction from the typical 2n = 14 for the genus (S. Kawano and H. H. Iltis 1964). [source]

Habit: Forb/herb

Flowers: Bloom Period: February. • Flower Color: pale yellow

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 12-18" tall.

Habitat

Rich hardwood forest and alluvial bottomlands ; 0--100 m [2].

Typically found at an altitude of 0 to 121 meters (0 to 397 feet).[3]

Biology

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Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Light Shade.

Taxonomy

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Synonyms

Oakesia floridana (Chapman) J. F. Macbride • Oakesiella floridana (Chapman) Small

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 09-Jul-2004

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Uvularia

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 7 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

U. caroliniana (Mountain Bellwort) · U. floridana (Florida Bellwort) · U. grandiflora (Large Bellwort) · U. perfoliata (Dwarf Merrybells) · U. puberula (Mountain Bellwort) · U. rosea (Rose Mandarin) · U. sessilifolia (Bellworts)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 22, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Frederick H. Utech & Shoichi Kawano "Uvularia". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 51, 57, 147. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Uvularia floridana". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 148, 149. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  3. Mean = 57.260 meters (187.861 feet), Standard Deviation = 36.350 based on 27 observations. Altitude information for each observation from British Oceanographic Data Centre. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012