Interesting Facts
Description
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]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Spermatopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Subclass:
Liliidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Lilianae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Order:
Liliales
()
- Perleb, 1826
- Family:
Colchicaceae
()
- A.P. de Candolle, 1805
- Tribe:
Uvularieae
()
- Genus:
Uvularia
()
- C. Linnaeus, 1753
- Bellwort, merrybells [Latin uvula, alluding to the flowers hanging like that organ, and to formerly supposed efficacy in treating diseases of it]
- Specific epithet:
puberula
- Subspecies:
nitida
- Botanical name: - Uvularia puberula nitida
- Subspecies:
nitida
- Specific epithet:
puberula
- Genus:
Uvularia
(
- Tribe:
Uvularieae
(
- Family:
Colchicaceae
(
- Order:
Liliales
(
- Superorder:
Lilianae
(
- Subclass:
Liliidae
(
- Class:
Spermatopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Similar Species
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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- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Anderson, E. and T. W. Whitaker. 1934. Speciation in Uvularia. J. Arnold Arbor. 15: 28-42. Dietz, R. A. 1952. Variation in the perfoliate uvularias. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 39: 219-247.
- Hayashi, K. et al. 1998. Molecular systematics of the genus Uvularia and selected Liliales based upon matK and rbcL gene sequence data. Pl. Spec. Biol. 13: 129-146.
- Kawano, S. and H. H. Iltis. 1964. Cytotaxonomic and geographic notes on Uvularia (Liliaceae). Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 91: 13-23.
- Soper, J. H. 1952. Phytogeographic studies in Ontario I. The genus Uvularia in southern Ontario. Rhodora 54: 58-67.
- Wijesinghe, D. K. and D. F. Whigham. 2001. Nutrient foraging in woodland herbs: A comparison of three species of Uvularia (Liliaceae) with contrasting belowground morphologies. Amer. J. Bot. 88: 1071-1079.
- Wilbur, R. L. 1963. A revision of the North American genus Uvularia (Liliaceae). Rhodora 65: 158-188.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 13, 2012.
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 2796441
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 4034657
Footnotes
- 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]
