Perfoliate bellwort facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Perfoliate bellwort |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Genus: |
Uvularia
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| Species: |
perfoliata
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The Perfoliate Bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata) is a pretty wild flower that grows in the eastern parts of the United States and Canada. It's a perennial plant, which means it lives for more than two years. Every spring, it grows pale yellow, bell-shaped flowers. This plant is also called a forb, which means it's a non-woody plant that isn't a grass.
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About the Perfoliate Bellwort
The Perfoliate Bellwort has a smooth, thin stem that can grow from about 15 to 50 centimeters tall. That's like the length of a ruler! The stem usually splits into two branches above the middle.
Its leaves are shaped like an upside-down egg. They are about 4 to 12 centimeters long and 1.5 to 4 centimeters wide. These leaves are either smooth (called glabrous) or have a whitish, waxy coating (called glaucous). A special thing about them is that they are perfoliate. This means the stem seems to grow right through the middle of the leaf! Usually, there are 1 to 4 leaves below where the stem forks.
Each stem has one flower that hangs downwards. The flower has six parts, called tepals, which are like petals and sepals combined. They are 2 to 3.5 centimeters long and feel a bit bumpy on the inside. After the flower, the plant grows a fruit that looks like a three-sided capsule. It's about 7 to 13 millimeters long.
Where the Perfoliate Bellwort Grows
The Perfoliate Bellwort is found across a wide area in the eastern and southern United States. You can see it from Texas all the way to New Hampshire. It also grows in the Canadian province of Ontario.
Sadly, this plant is considered an endangered species in the states of Indiana and New Hampshire. This means there aren't many of them left in those areas, and they need protection.
This plant likes to grow in certain places, like forests that flood sometimes (called floodplain forests). It also likes forests that are not too wet and not too dry (called mesic upland forests), and dry, rocky woodlands. For the Perfoliate Bellwort to survive, it needs the right kind of home. If its habitat is destroyed by building new things, changes in how land is used, or if invasive species (plants that don't belong there and take over) move in, the Perfoliate Bellwort can disappear from that area.
How Scientists Classify This Plant
The Perfoliate Bellwort belongs to a group of plants called the genus Uvularia. For a long time, scientists thought this genus was part of the Liliaceae family, which includes lilies.
However, more recently, scientists who study plant relationships (like the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group) have found that Uvularia actually fits better into a different family called Colchicaceae. So, its family classification has changed as we learn more about plants!
Images for kids
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Botanical illustration of Uvularia perfoliata (1913)
