| Oconee bells | |
|---|---|
| Oconee Bells | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Ericales |
| Family: | Diapensiaceae |
| Genus: | Shortia |
| Species: | S. galacifolia |
| Binomial name | |
| Shortia galacifolia Torr. & Gray |
|
| Variety | |
Shortia galacifolia (Oconee bells or Acony Bell) is a rare plant of the Southern Appalachians in the family Diapensiaceae. It is a relict herb which long bewitched Asa Gray, the eminent American botanist, a saga detailed in the paper "Asa Gray and his quest for Shortia glaucifolia" [Arnoldia Vol. 2, 13-26. 1942]. Gray had seen a fragment of the plant in the Paris herbarium in 1838, and had long sought it in the wild in the mountains of North Carolina. It was not rediscovered until 1877.