Large Bellwort

Media
Photo of bellwort
Scientific Name
Uvularia grandiflora
Family
Liliaceae (lilies)
Description

Stems smooth, usually forked, with zigzag pattern between leaf nodes. Flowers nodding, yellow, with 3 matching sepals and 3 petals about 2 long, petals and sepals narrow, often spirally twisted, terminal. Leaves perfoliate (completely surrounding the stem), broadly oval, hairy underneath, bright green. Fruit a capsule.

Similar species: Another species, small bellwort (U. sessilifolia), is scattered mostly north of the Missouri River, has hairless leaves that are sessile (not perfoliate), has smaller, paler flowers, and generally only lives in low areas.

Size

Height: to 2 feet.

Where To Find
image of Bellwort Large Bellwort Distribution Map

Statewide, except some southwestern counties.

Occurs in moist bottomland and upland forests, in ravines and valleys, and on rich, wooded slopes; less commonly on shaded bluff ledges or stream banks.

Young shoots of some species of bellworts have been cooked and eaten like asparagus. The starchy rootstocks have also been cooked and eaten. But most people only "devour" these pretty spring wildflowers with their eyes!

Bellworts are in the lily family, along with daylilies, trilliums, onions, tulips, and many more. Lilies have many traits in common, but almost all have flower parts in threes, leaves with parallel veins, and bulbs, tubers, or similar as rootstocks.

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Similar Species
About Wildflowers, Grasses and Other Nonwoody Plants in Missouri
A very simple way of thinking about the green world is to divide the vascular plants into two groups: woody and nonwoody (or herbaceous). But this is an artificial division; many plant families include some species that are woody and some that are not. The diversity of nonwoody vascular plants is staggering! Think of all the ferns, grasses, sedges, lilies, peas, sunflowers, nightshades, milkweeds, mustards, mints, and mallows — weeds and wildflowers — and many more!