Campanula

Campanula is the type genus of the Campanulaceae family of flowering plants. Campanula are commonly known as bellflowers and take both their common and scientific names from the bell-shaped flowers — campanula is Latin for "little bell".
The genus includes over 500 species and several subspecies, distributed across the temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with centers of diversity in the Mediterranean region, Balkans, Caucasus and mountains of western Asia. The range also extends into mountains in tropical regions of Asia and Africa.
The species include annual, biennial and perennial plants, and vary in habit from dwarf arctic and alpine species under 5 cm high, to large temperate grassland and woodland species growing to tall.
Description
The leaves are alternate and often vary in shape on a single plant, with larger, broader leaves at the base of the stem and smaller, narrower leaves higher up; the leaf margin may be either entire or serrated (sometimes both on the same plant). Many species contain white latex in the leaves and stems.
The flowers are produced in panicles (sometimes solitary), and have a five-lobed corolla, typically large (2–5 cm or more long), mostly blue to purple, sometimes white or pink. Below the corolla, 5 leaf-like sepals form the calyx. Some species have a small additional leaf-like growth termed an "appendage" between each sepal, and the presence or absence, relative size, and attitude of the appendage is often used to distinguish between closely related species.
The fruit is a capsule containing numerous small seeds.
Campanula species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including common pug (recorded on harebell), dot moth, ingrailed clay (recorded on harebell), lime-speck pug and mouse moth.
Cultivation and uses
Well-known species include the northern temperate Campanula rotundifolia, commonly known as harebell in England and bluebell in Scotland and Ireland (though it is not closely related to the true bluebells), and the southern European Campanula medium, commonly known as Canterbury bells (a popular garden plant in the United Kingdom). As well as several species occurring naturally in the wild in northern Europe, there are many cultivated garden species.
The cultivars 'Misty Dawn'
and 'Kent Belle'
have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
The species Campanula rapunculus, commonly known as rampion bellflower, rampion, or rover bellflower, is a biennial vegetable which was once widely grown in Europe for its spinach-like leaves and radish-like roots. In many English translations of the Brothers Grimm's tale Rapunzel, rampion is the vegetable that is stolen from the witch. (Rapunzel is a completely different plant, Valerianella locusta.)
In the UK the National Collection of campanulas is held at Burton Agnes Hall in East Yorkshire and the National Collection of Alpine Campanulas at Langham Hall, Bury St Edmunds, in Suffolk.
Related genera
The classification of some Campanulaceae genera as either part of Campanula or separate genera can vary by system, including Azorina, Campanulastrum, Canarina, Edraianthus, Musschia, Ostrowskia, and Platycodon. Some genera previously not segregated from Campanula currently are segregated in some systems, including Annaea, Gadellia, and Theodorovia. Hemisphaera was formerly Campanula, subsect. Scapiflorae, and Neocodon was Campanula sect. Rapunculus.
Species
There are 473, including:
Campanula aghrica – Aghrian bellflower
Campanula alliariifolia – Cornish bellflower
Campanula alaskana
Campanula alpestris
Campanula alpina
Campanula americana – American bellflower
Campanula angustiflora – Eastwood's bellflower
Campanula balfourii – Socotra bellflower
Campanula barbata – bearded bellflower
Campanula betulifolia
Campanula bononiensis
Campanula bravensis
Campanula californica – swamp harebell
Campanula carpatica – Carpathian bellflower
Campanula cervicaria – bristly bellflower
Campanula cochleariifolia – fairies' thimbles
Campanula collina – blue dwarf bellflower
Campanula divaricata – Appalachian bellflower
Campanula exigua – chaparral bellflower
Campanula garganica – Adriatic bellflower
Campanula gelida
Campanula glomerata – clustered bellflower
Campanula griffinii – Griffin's bellflower
Campanula hercegovina
Campanula isophylla – Italian bellflower
Campanula jacobaea
Campanula lactiflora – milky bellflower
Campanula lanata
Campanula lasiocarpa
Campanula latifolia – wide-leaved bellflower
Campanula latiloba – great bellflower
Campanula medium – Canterbury bells
Campanula napuligera
Campanula parryi
Campanula patula – spreading bellflower
Campanula pendula
Campanula persicifolia – peach-leaved bellflower
Campanula piperi – Piper's bellflower
Campanula portenschlagiana – Dalmatian or wall bellflower
Campanula poscharskyana – Serbian bellflower
Campanula primulifolia – Spanish bellflower
Campanula punctata
Campanula pyramidalis – chimney bellflower
Campanula raineri – Rainer's bellflower
Campanula rapunculoides – creeping bellflower
Campanula rapunculus – rampion bellflower
Campanula robinsiae
Campanula rotundifolia – harebell, bluebell
Campanula scabrella – rough bellflower
Campanula scheuchzeri
Campanula scouleri – Scouler's or pale bellflower
Campanula sharsmithiae – Sharsmith's or Mt. Hamilton bellflower
Campanula shetleri – Castle Crags bellflower
Campanula spicata
Campanula takesimana – Korean bellflower
Campanula thyrsoides
Campanula trachelium – nettle-leaved bellflower
Campanula uniflora – Arctic bellflower
Campanula wilkinsiana – Wilkin's bellflower
Campanula zoysii
Formerly placed here
Adenophora gmelinii (Spreng.) Fisch. (as C. coronopifolia Schult. or C. gmelinii Spreng.)
Adenophora khasiana (Hook.f. & Thomson) Collett & Hemsl. (as C. khasiana Hook.f. & Thomson)
Adenophora liliifolia (L.) Besser (as C. liliifolia L.)
Adenophora triphylla (Thunb.) A.DC. (as C. tetraphylla Thunb. or C. triphylla Thunb.)
Azorina vidalii (H.C.Watson) Feer (as C. vidalii H.C.Watson)
Borago pygmaea (DC.) Chater & Greuter (as C. pygmaea DC.)
Legousia pentagonia (L.) Druce (as C. pentagonia L.)
Legousia speculum-veneris (L.) Durande ex Vill. (as C. speculum-veneris L.)
Platycodon grandiflorus (Jacq.) A.DC. (as C. glauca Thunb. or C. grandiflora Jacq.)
Triodanis perfoliata (L.) Nieuwl. (as C. perfoliata L.)
Wahlenbergia linarioides (Lam.) A.DC. (as C. linarioides Lam.)
Wahlenbergia marginata (Thunb.) A.DC. C. gracilis G.Forst. or C. marginata Thunb.)
Wahlenbergia undulata (L.f.) A.DC. (as C. undulata L.f.)
Chemistry
Violdelphin is an anthocyanin, a type of plant pigment, found in the blue flowers in the genus Campanula.
Fossil record
Three fossil seeds of †Campanula palaeopyramidalis have been extracted from borehole samples of the Middle Miocene fresh water deposits in Nowy Sacz Basin, West Carpathians, Poland.
References
External links
Campanulaceae genera