Florida bellwort

Oakesia floridana (Chapman) J. F. Macbride; Oakesiella floridana (Chapman) Small

Rhizomes elongate, 10–15 cm, fleshy, bearing scattered, fibrous roots; stolons present. Stem 1, simple, angled distally, 2.5–4 dm, nodes glabrous, bearing 1–2 leaves below lowest branch. Leaf blades sessile, narrowly to broadly elliptic, 4–7(–8.5) × 1.5–3 cm, glabrous abaxially, margins minutely papillose, apex rounded to acute. Flowers 1 per stem; peduncles 0.2–0.8 cm, bearing 1, ovate, leafy bract, 0.7–2.5 cm; tepals pale whitish yellow, 20–30 × 3–4 mm, smooth adaxially, apex acuminate; stamens 10–15 mm; anthers 5–10 mm; connectives 0.5–2 mm; ovary sessile or subsessile, sharply triangular; style 10–15 mm; stigma lobes 3–5 mm. Capsules sessile or subsessile, sharply 3-winged, generally ellipsoid, 2–3.7 × 1–2 cm, apical attenuate beak 4–7 mm. Seeds 3–5 mm; arils crested. 2n = 12.

Flowering early spring. Rich hardwood forest and alluvial bottomlands; 0--100 m; Ala., Fla., Ga., Miss., S.C.

The 2n = 12 aneuploid chromosome report for Uvularia floridana from Florida’s panhandle (F. H. Utech 1978d) represents a reduction from the typical 2n = 14 for the genus (S. Kawano and H. H. Iltis 1964).