Uvularia grandiflora

Image:Uvulariagrandiflora.jpg

Growing to {{convert|75|cm|0|abbr=on}} tall by {{convert|30|cm|0|abbr=on}} broad, it is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial with pendent leaves which are hairy on the undersides. It blooms in mid- to late spring, producing large yellow, solitary or paired, bell-shaped, pendent flowers.{{cite book|title=RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants|year=2008|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1405332965|pages=1136}} The top parts of the plant tend to bend downward due to the weight of the leaves and flowers. The light green stems are round, glabrous, and glaucous and the leaves are perfoliate since the stem appears to come through the leaves at the base. In late summer three capsuled ovaries split open releasing the seeds.{{cite book|author=Timothy P. Spira|title=Wildflowers and Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont: A Naturalist's Guide to the Carolinas, Virginia, Tennessee, and Georgia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xmh4_bgZiGsC&pg=PA462|date=16 May 2011|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-7765-4|pages=462–}}

The Latin specific epithet grandiflora means "large flowered".{{cite book | last=Harrison |first=Lorraine | title=RHS Latin for Gardeners | year=2012 |publisher=Mitchell Beazley | location=United Kingdom | isbn=978-1845337315 }}

This plant differs from Uvularia sessilifolia in that the leaves of the latter grow from the stem and its flowers are smaller. U. grandiflora also differs from Uvularia perfoliata, which occurs in eastern North America. The latter has similar large perfoliate leaves, but the flowers have orange-colored bumps on the petals.

The native range of Uvularia grandiflora extends from the Appalachians west to the Dakotas, Kansas and Oklahoma, from Louisiana and Georgia in the South to Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec in Canada. So, it is widespread across the eastern mountains, the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley. There are also isolated populations along Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

Uvularia grandiflora is a woodland species found in open shade in rich moist woods with calcareous to neutral soils.{{eFloras|1|242102041|Uvularia grandiflora |family=Liliaceae |first1=Frederick H. |last1=Utech |first2=Shoichi |last2=Kawano}}

Bumblebees, mason bees, halictid bees, and andrenid bees feed from the nectar and collect pollen from the flowers. Deer love to eat these plants.{{cite book|author1=Charlotte Adelman|author2=Bernard L. Schwartz|title=The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives to Nonnative Flowers and Plants|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u-9HBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT77|date=21 September 2011|publisher=Ohio University Press|isbn=978-0-8214-4356-9|pages=77–}} The seeds have attached food bodies called (elaiosome) that are attractive to ants, which collect and redistribute the seeds.

The plant is listed as endangered in New Hampshire{{PLANTS |symbol=UVGR |taxon=Uvularia grandiflora |access-date=19 December 2017 }} and Connecticut.{{cite web |url=http://www.ct.gov/deep/lib/deep/wildlife/pdf_files/nongame/ets15.pdf |title=Connecticut's Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species 2015 |publisher=State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Bureau of Natural Resources |access-date=1 January 2018}} (Note: This list is newer and updated from the one used by plants.usda.gov)

The Menominee use this plant for swellings.{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Huron H. |date=1923 |title=Ethnobotany of the Menomini Indians |journal=Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee |volume=4 |page=41}} The Ojibwa are documented to use the root for pain in the solar plexus, which may refer to pleurisy.{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Huron H. |date=1932 |title=Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe Indians |journal=Bulletin of the Public Museum of Milwaukee |volume=4 |page=374}} The Potawatomi mix an infusion of the root mixed with lard and use it as salve to massage sore muscles and tendons.{{cite journal |last=Smith |first=Huron H. |date=1933 |title=Ethnobotany of the Forest Potawatomi Indians |journal=Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee |volume=7 |pages=56, 57, 64}}

In cultivation in the UK Uvularia grandiflora has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - Uvularia grandiflora|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/18636/Uvularia-grandiflora/Details | access-date=15 April 2020}}{{cite web | url = https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017 | page = 106 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | access-date = 10 January 2010}} There exists a cultivar 'Pallida' with paler coloured flowers.{{cite web |last=Bourne |first=Val |title=Merrybells |date=2 May 2008 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3347883/Merrybells-How-to-grow.html |publisher=Daily Telegraph |access-date=4 May 2013}}

{{Reflist}}

{{commons category|Uvularia grandiflora}}

• [http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=r260 Missouri Botanical Garden – Plant Finder]
• {{Illinois Wildflowers|woodland/plants/lf_bellwort |link=1}}

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grandiflora

Category:Plants used in traditional Native American medicine

Category:Flora of Eastern Canada

Category:Flora of the Northeastern United States

Category:Flora of the Southeastern United States

Category:Flora of the North-Central United States