At 9 months pregnant, my woods walking speed has slowed to almost a snail’s pace. But the beneficial side effect of this is that I notice tiny details I would’ve otherwise missed. On Friday, for example, I noticed a single strange seed pod mixed in among bear oak and huckleberry shrubs.

This was a seed pod I’d never seed before, but I was hopeful that it’d be fairly easy to identify. It was part of a low-growing (only ~6-8 inches off the ground), herbaceous plant, it had a 3-part seed pod, and I found it in a sandy pine barrens upland habitat. I hoped only a few plants would fit that description.

The Lily Family (Liliaceae), and the closely related Autumn Crocus family (Colchicaceae), both have 3-part construction to their flowers and seed pods. Based on the size and location of the plant, a bellwort (Uvularia) – a member of the Autumn Crocus family – seemed like a good fit. (This is a great moment to make a pitch for learning groups of plants rather than simply individuals – it becomes a lot easier to narrow down a new-to-you plant if you can immediately place it in one or two discrete possible groups!)

If it was a bellwort, sessile-leaved bellwort (U. sessilifolia) is the only bellwort species common to Cape Cod, so I started my search there. And voila! That seemed to be it. Interestingly, one resource I consulted to confirm the plant’s identity mentioned that these plants rarely set seed, which would explain why, despite noticing them blooming along many of the trails I frequent in the spring, I’ve never noticed sessile-leaved bellflower seedpods.

Next time you go out for a walk, slow down. Look down. Look up. Look closely. What do you notice that you’ve never noticed before?