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Campanula rapunculus - Rampion Bellflower

Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Asterales - Family: Campanulaceae

Closeup of flowers of Rampion Bellflower

Description

This bellflower usually grows to a height of 40 to 80cm (occasionally to a metre), and poduces bell-shaped light blue or violet flowers. The one-sided inflorescence can comprise a raceme of up to 20 individual flowers, each typically 2cm long and with five pointed petals.

Rampion Bellflower, southern France

The stems are lightly hairy and tend to branch towards the top,The basal leaves form a rosette on the ground, and smaller sessile lanceolate leaves are borne alternately up the stems.

Campanula rapunculus, flower closeup

Habitat

Campanula rapunculus favours rather dry conditions on limestone and chalk grassland habitats, particularly on roadside banks and beneath hedges.

Rampion Bellflower, France

Distribution

In Britain this is an introduced species and was once a popular salad vegetable. In the wild it is now mainly confined to a few alkaline regions of southern England.

Elsewhere in Europe, Rampion Bellflower is widely distributed and fairly common except for northern countries. Its range extends to North Africa and eastwards into Asia.

Flowering times

Rampion Bellflower produces flowers from early May through to September.

The specimens shown on this page were seen in southern France during late May.

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