365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Sunday, June 27, 2021
Anticlea Occidentalis, Mountain-Bells
Day 257: "Learn something new every day." That's not always easy to do, but sometimes it occurs as a happy accident. Such was the case when I was verifying that the taxonomy of Anticlea occidentalis hadn't changed again. I know the plant's common name as "Mountain-bells," but common names being rather flexibly applied, many nurseries refer to various Alliums as "Mountain Bells" (with or without a hyphen). The term may also be casually dispensed to several other mountain-dwelling, bell-shaped flowers. Common names annoy me, but nevertheless, discovering that our native Anticlea is also known as "Feather-bells" scored a point on my "Learn something new" chart; I had not heard it before, and it seems more appropriate to the delicate, recurved petals of this dainty flower. Mountain-bells are almost always ringing, their chimes only audible to faeries and other woodland sprites. The slightest breeze sets them in motion at the ends of their thready stems. Habitués of moist meadows and seeps, they may also be referred to as "Bronze Bells" or "Mission Bells" by those who don't care to be more specific about a plant's true identity.
Labels:
Anticlea occidentalis,
Mountain-bells,
nomenclature
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