24. Uvularia L. (bellwort)

(Wilbur, 1963)

Plants perennial, with rhizomes, lacking the odor of onion or garlic. Aerial stems usually forked into 2 branches above the middle, erect, flexuous, arched, or most commonly recurved near the tip, glabrous. Leaves several, alternate, the basal few reduced to bladeless sheaths, the remainder sessile or perfoliate, 0–2 normal leaves below the fork, several above the fork. Inflorescences of single flowers at the tips of short, axillary branches with 0 or 1 leaves, appearing axillary. Flowers with stalks 7–30 mm long, none of them replaced by bulblets. Perianth bell-shaped, the sepals and petals free, linear to narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblanceolate, often somewhat spirally twisted, pale yellow to yellow. Stamens 6, free. Style 3-lobed, each narrow lobe with a linear stigmatic area on the inner surface near the tip. Ovary superior, sometimes short-stalked, with 3 locules, each with 2–6 ovules. Fruits obovoid, 3-lobed capsules. Five species, endemic to the eastern U.S. and adjacent Canada west to South Dakota and Texas.

Young shoots of Uvularia species have been cooked and eaten like asparagus, and the starchy rootstocks of some species have also been boiled and eaten.