Oconee bells facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Oconee bells |
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Shortia
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galacifolia
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The Shortia galacifolia, also known as the Oconee bells or acony bell, is a very special and rare plant. It belongs to the Diapensiaceae plant family. You can find it in the southern Appalachian Mountains. Most of these plants grow where the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina meet. Some Oconee bells have also been found in Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, and Massachusetts. Interestingly, other types of Shortia plants are also found in Japan!
What Are Oconee Bells Like?
Oconee bells have beautiful creamy-white flowers. These flowers usually appear from late March to May. New seedlings, which are baby plants, start to show up in late July and early August. This happens about six weeks after the plant's seed pod, called a capsule, becomes ripe.
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These plants have shallow roots that spread out like runners, called Stolons. They like soil that is rich and loamy, with some sand or clay mixed in. Oconee bells prefer places where it rains a lot, usually between 140–200 centimeters (55–79 in) each year. They can only handle bright sunlight for a short time, about 2 to 3 hours in the middle of the day.
The leaves of the Oconee bells are round with wavy edges and a heart-shaped base. Their seeds are thin and oval, and they are light to medium brown. Young Oconee bell plants often grow close to older ones, usually within 1.5 meters (4.9 ft). However, they can sometimes be found as far as 6 meters (20 ft) away. The plant stalks grow about 13–15 centimeters (5–6 in) tall. These plants really like shady spots and soil that has a lot of humus, which is decayed plant and animal matter.
Where Do Oconee Bells Live?
Oconee bells have a small natural home range. Within this area, you will always find them along rivers and in deep valleys called gorges. They grow on sloped land that has been disturbed in some way. This disturbance can be natural, like mudslides or erosion, or caused by humans, like trees being cut down.
Shortia galacifolia often grows in a thick mat on the ground. This mat can sometimes stop seeds from other plants from growing. The decaying parts of the Oconee bells might even have a small toxic effect on other plants. Because of this, Oconee bells are often the only plant, or one of very few, covering the ground in an area. They are found at elevations from 185–625 meters (607–2,051 ft). The exact elevation where they grow can change a lot from one river area to another.
Some common trees that grow near Oconee bells include:
- Eastern hemlock
- Sweet birch (Betula lenta)
- Red maple
- Yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)
- Sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
- Trees from the beech family
Less often, you might see them with:
- Chestnut oak
- White oak (Quercus alba)
- Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus)
- Sourwood (Oxydendrum)
- Locust trees (Robinia)
In wetter areas, you might find greater rhododendron (Rhododendron maximum) growing nearby. In drier spots, mountain laurel is common.
Oconee bells are considered an endemic relict species. This means they are found only in a specific small area and are a leftover from a past time when they might have been more widespread. They only grow well in disturbed areas. As forests grow back, the light and soil conditions change, which is not good for the Oconee bells.
It's interesting to know that Oconee bells have been successfully grown in gardens as far north as Grand-Métis, Quebec in Canada.
The Great Search for Oconee Bells
The Oconee bells plant is an evergreen herb that once puzzled a very famous American botanist named Asa Gray. His long search for this plant is a well-known story!
In 1839, while in Paris, France, Gray saw a small piece of the plant in a plant collection at the Jardin des Plantes. He thought it was a new type of plant, a new genus. He had been looking for this plant in the wild mountains of North Carolina for a long time. This original piece had been found by André Michaux, who said he found it in the "High Mountains of Carolina."
For many years, people argued about exactly where Michaux found the plant. Was it in Transylvania County, North Carolina, near the Horsepasture River and Toxaway River? Or was it in Oconee County, South Carolina, along the Keowee River? Much of the area around the Keowee River was covered by water after the Jocassee Dam was built in 1973. Michaux's notes suggest he found it near where two rivers joined at the headwaters of the Keowee. Before the plant was found again, Asa Gray made several trips to this region, but he never found a live specimen. His last trip was in 1876.
The Oconee bells plant was finally found again in May 1877! It was discovered by George McQueen Hyams (who was just a teenager at the time) on the banks of the Catawba River in McDowell County, North Carolina. George's father collected medicinal herbs. The Hyams family didn't know what they had found. About 18 months later, they sent the plant to a lawyer and botanist named Joseph Whipple Congdon. He then contacted Asa Gray, telling him he thought he had found Shortia.
Asa Gray was overjoyed! He had been searching for a live specimen for 39 years. When he finally held a piece of the plant, he famously said, "Now let me sing my nunc dimittis" (meaning, "Now I can rest, my work is done"). Gray wrote to his friends and to the Hyams family about the amazing discovery. He noted that because the Hyamses waited, their discovery couldn't be included in a new plant book that had just been published. In the spring of 1879, Gray led an expedition to the spot where the plant was found, and the Hyams family helped him. Gray's very last trip to this region was in 1884.
Asa Gray named the plant genus Shortia after Charles Wilkins Short. Short was an American botanist who lived in Kentucky, near where the plant was found. Gray and Short never met in person, but they wrote many letters to each other. Charles Short never saw a live Oconee bells plant himself. The second part of the name, galacifolia, means "galax-like leaves." This is because its evergreen leaves look similar to the leaves of plants in the genus Galax. Gray never saw the Oconee bells blooming in their natural home. He also never visited the Keowee River area. In 2011, a U.S. postage stamp honoring Asa Gray also showed this special plant!
