Perfoliate BellwortBellwort was sometimes used to cure throat problems because according to the " doctrine of signatures " it was thought that the blossoms look like the uvula, or palate (that pink appendage which hangs down the back of the throat). " Wort " is a name formerly given to plants used for food or medicine. When used as a suffix, it often just means " plant." The scientific name comes from " the flower hanging like the uvula."
Merry Bells or Bellworts are one of the treasures of our spring forests. They multiply by long, fleshy, white underground stolons and form colonies of delicate stems holding straw-yellow bells nodding in the breeze.