wild oats

(Uvularia sessilifolia)

Conservation Status
wild oats
 
  IUCN Red List

not listed

     
  NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

SNR - Unranked

     
  Minnesota

not listed

     
           
Wetland Indicator Status
     
  Great Plains

FACW - Facultative wetland

     
  Midwest

FACW - Facultative wetland

     
  Northcentral & Northeast

FACW - Facultative wetland

     
           
 
Description
 
 

Wild oats is a 4 to 12 tall, erect, herbaceous perennial rising on a single stem from an elongate, slender rhizome. It often forms colonies.

The stems are rounded, forked once above the middle, and have sheathing bracts at the base. They are light green or reddish-green, hairless, are covered with a whitish, waxy coating (glaucous). On young, flowering plants the stem is usually unforked and the upper stem nods under the weight of the leaves and flowers. On mature, fruiting plants the stems are forked once or twice and are reclining. There is usually just a single leaf below the fork of the stem. One branch is sterile and has 4 to 8 leaves, one branch is fertile and has several leaves and 1 to 3 flowers.

The leaves are alternate, untoothed, 1½ to 2½ long and to 1¼ wide, oval to oblong egg-shaped, with a pointed tip and a rounded base. They attach to the stem without a stalk (sessile) but do not wrap around the stem at their base. The upper surface of the leaf is hairless and bright green to bluish-green. They have 3 to 5 prominent, parallel veins. On the underside of the leaf the veins are covered with minute white hairs. On young plants the leaves are soft, drooping, and somewhat rolled. On mature plants the leaves are firm and are held horizontally.

The inflorescence is a single flower at the end of a flowering branch. It may appear to be born in a leaf axil, since the forked stem on which it is born ends abruptly after forking.

The flowers are bell-shaped, ½ to 1 long, nodding and slightly fragrant. They are borne on ¼ to long flower stalks and are subtended with a single bract. There are 6 cream to pale straw-yellow overlapping tepals. The interior surface of the tepals are hairless.

The fruit is a 3-celled, greenish to yellowish-brown, to 1 long, to wide capsule. The capsule is egg-shaped to pyramid-shaped, with a rounded tip and 3 sharp lobes. The lobes are not beaked. Each cell contains several seeds.

 
     
 

Height

 
 

4 to 12

 
     
 

Flower Color

 
 

Cream to pale straw-yellow

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
 

Large-flowered bellwort (Uvularia grandiflora) is a taller plant, 8 to 20 tall. The leaves are perfoliate and larger, 2 to 5 long and ¾ to 2 wide. There are 1 to 3 flowers per stem. The flowers are yellow and larger, 1 to 2 long. The seed capsules have well-rounded lobes and are shorter, to long.

Perfoliate bellwort (Uvularia perfoliata) has perfoliate leaves. It does not occur in Minnesota.

 
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Moderate moisture. Forests edges and openings.

 
     
 
Ecology
 
 

Flowering

 
 

April to May

 
     
 

Pests and Diseases

 
 

 

 
     
 
Use
 
 

 

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 28, 29, 30.

 
  7/21/2023      
         
 

Nativity

 
 

Native

 
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

 

 
         
 
Taxonomy
 
 

Kingdom

Plantae (green algae and land plants)

 
 

Subkingdom

Viridiplantae (green plants)

 
 

Infrakingdom

Streptophyta (land plants and green algae)

 
 

Superdivision

Embryophyta (land plants)

 
 

Division

Tracheophyta (vascular plants)

 
 

Subdivision

Spermatophytina (seed plants)

 
 

Class

Liliopsida (monocots)

 
 

Order

Liliales (lilies, supplejacks, and allies)

 
 

Family

Colchicaceae (bellworts and allies)

 
 

Tribe

Uvularieae

 
 

Genus

Uvularia (bellworts)

 
 

Section

Oakesiella (sessile-leaved bellworts)

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Oakesia sessilifolia

Oakesiella sessilifolia

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

pale bellwort

sessile bellwort

sessileleaf bellwort

sessile-leaf bellwort

sessile-leaved bellwort

small marybells

small merrybells

straw lily

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glossary

Beak

A comparatively short and stout, narrow or prolonged tip on a thickened organ, as on some fruits and seeds.

 

Bract

Modified leaf at the base of a flower stalk, flower cluster, or inflorescence.

 

Glaucous

Pale green or bluish gray due to a whitish, powdery or waxy film, as on a plum or a grape.

 

Perfoliate

A leaf having margins that entirely surround the stem, giving the appearance that the stem is growing through the leaf.

 

Rhizome

A horizontal, usually underground stem. It serves as a reproductive structure, producing roots below and shoots above at the nodes.

 

Sepal

An outer floral leaf, usually green but sometimes colored, at the base of a flower.

 

Sessile

Stalkless; attached at the base without a petiole, peduncle, pedicel, or stalk.

 

Sheath

The lower part of the leaf that surrounds the stem.

 

Tepal

Refers to both the petals and the sepals of a flower when they are similar in appearance and difficult to tell apart. Tepals are common in lilies and tulips.

 
 
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Bill Reynolds

 
 

Sessileleaf Bellwort St Louis Co MN. I've always known it as Wild Oats.

 
    wild oats      
 

Anne Sundal

 
    wild oats      
           
 
MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos
 
    wild oats   wild oats  

 

Camera

     
 
Slideshows
 
 

Sessile Bellwort (Wild Oats) (Uvularia sessilifolia)
Andree Reno Sanborn

 
  Sessile Bellwort (Wild Oats) (Uvularia sessilifolia)  
 

Uvularia sessilifolia Top # 5 Facts
PalakTY121

 
   
 
About

Published on Nov 2, 2015

Uvularia sessilifolia Top # 5 Facts

 

 

slideshow

       
 
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Other Videos
 
 

Edible & Medicinal Wild Oats / Bellwort ( Uvularia sessilifolia )
Prepare2Survive

 
   
 
About

Published on May 3, 2012

MORE INFO - http://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/Bellwort_060507.htm

http://www.voyageurcountry.com/htmls/floweringplants/plants/bellwortsessile.html

http://www.naturalmedicinalherbs.net/herbs/u/uvularia-sessilifolia=bellwort.php

http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Uvularia+sessilifolia

   
 

Wild Oats / Bellwort ( Uvularia sessilifolia )
ThePlantVideos

 
   
 
About

Published on Jun 30, 2012

Camera used - Toshiba Camileo bw10

   
 

MyNature Apps; Identifying Wild Oats, Uvularia sessilifolia
MyNatureApps

 
   
 
About

Uploaded on May 7, 2011

Identifying Wild Oats, Uvularia sessilifolia. www.mynatureapps.com

   

 

Camcorder

 
 
Visitor Sightings
 
           
 

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  Anne Sundal
5/21/2014

Location: Mahtomedi, MN

growing wild in our woodland garden

wild oats  
  Bill Reynolds
5/28/2004

Location: St. Louis Co. MN

Sessileleaf Bellwort St Louis Co MN. I've always known it as Wild Oats.

wild oats  
           
 
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