Campanula rotundifolia

Last updated

Campanula rotundifolia
Campanula rotondifolia.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Campanulaceae
Genus: Campanula
Species:
C. rotundifolia
Binomial name
Campanula rotundifolia
L.
Synonyms [1]
Synonymy
  • Campanula allophyllaRaf. ex A.DC.
  • Campanula angustifoliaLam.
  • Campanula antirrhinaSchleich.
  • Campanula asturicaPodlech
  • Campanula bielziiSchur
  • Campanula bocconeiVill.
  • Campanula caballeroiSennen & Losa
  • Campanula chinganensisA.I.Baranov
  • Campanula confertifolia(Reut.) Witasek
  • Campanula decloetianaOrtmann
  • Campanula heterodoxaVest ex Schult.
  • Campanula hostiiBaumg.
  • Campanula inconcessaSchott, Nyman & Kotschy
  • Campanula junceaHill
  • Campanula lanceolataLapeyr.
  • Campanula langsdorffiana(A. DC.) Trautv.
  • Campanula legionensisPau
  • Campanula lobataSchloss. & Vuk.
  • Campanula lostrittiiTen.
  • Campanula minorLam.
  • Campanula minutaSavi
  • Campanula penninaReut.
  • Campanula pinifoliaUechtr. ex Pancic
  • Campanula pseudovaldensisSchur
  • Campanula solstitialisA.Kern.
  • Campanula tenuifoliaHoffm.
  • Campanula tenuifoliaMart.
  • Campanula tracheliifoliaLosa ex Sennen
  • Campanula urbionensisRivas Mart. & G.Navarro
  • Campanula wiedmanniiPodlech
  • Depierrea campanuloidesSchltdl.

Campanula rotundifolia, the common harebell, Scottish bluebell, or bluebell of Scotland, is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae. [2] This herbaceous perennial is found throughout the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. In Scotland, it is often known simply as bluebell. It is the floral emblem of Sweden where it is known as small bluebell. [3] It produces its violet-blue, bell-shaped flowers in late summer and autumn.

Contents

The Latin specific epithet rotundifolia means "round leaved". [4] However, not all leaves are round in shape. Middle stem-leaves are linear. [5] :707

Description

Campanula rotundifolia is a slender, prostrate to erect herbaceous perennial, spreading by seed and rhizomes. The basal leaves are long-stalked, rounded to heart-shaped, usually slightly toothed, with prominent hydathodes, and often wither early. Leaves on the flowering stems are long and narrow and the upper ones are unstemmed. [6] The inflorescence is a panicle or raceme, with 1 to many flowers borne on very slender pedicels. The flowers usually have five (occasionally 4, 6 or 7) pale to mid violet-blue petals fused together into a bell shape, about 12–30 mm (15321+316 in) long and five long, pointed green sepals behind them. Plants with pale pink or white flowers may also occur. [6] The petal lobes are triangular and curve outwards. The seeds are produced in a capsule about 3–4 mm (18532 in) diameter and are released by pores at the base of the capsule. Seedlings are minute, but established plants can compete with tall grass. As with many other Campanula species, all parts of the plant exude white latex when injured or broken.

The flowering period is long and varies by location. In the British Isles, harebell flowers from July to November. [6] [7] :250 [8] In Missouri, it flowers from May to August; [9] in Minnesota, from June to October. [10] The flowers are pollinated by bees, but can self-pollinate.

Taxonomy

Campanula rotundifolia was first formally described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus. As of 2023, no varieties or subspecies of Campanula rotundifolia are accepted in Plants of the World Online (POWO). [11] Several species have been previously described as varieties or subspecies of C. rotundifolia:

Although POWO and World Flora Online (WFO) [22] accept these as separate species, most English language sources do not. For example both the Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN) and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS database (PLANTS) do not accept any of these species as valid or even regard them as valid subspecies. [2] [23] This is also the case with authoritative floras such as Flora of Colorado. [24]

While it is now commonly known as harebell or bluebell, it was historically known by several other names including blawort, hair-bell, lady's thimble, witch's bells, and witch's thimbles. [25] [26]

Elsewhere in Britain, "bluebell" refers to Hyacinthoides non-scripta , and in North America, "bluebell" typically refers to species in the genus Mertensia , such as Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells).

Distribution and habitat

Campanula rotundifolia occurs from Spitzbergen, [6] extending in mainland Europe from northernmost Scandinavia to the Pyrenees and the French Mediterranean coast. [27] It also occurs on the southern coasts of Greenland, on Iceland and on southern Novaya Zemlya. [27]

Some sources and authorities like the VASCAN and PLANTS do not currently separate out different species for North America. [2] [28] [23] If using these sources it is widely distributed through North America including all of Canada and most of the United States.

It occurs as tetraploid or hexaploid populations in Britain and Ireland, but diploids occur widely in continental Europe. [29] In Britain, the tetraploid population has an easterly distribution and the hexaploid population a westerly distribution, and very little mixing occurs at the range boundaries. [6]

Harebells grow in dry, nutrient-poor grasslands and heaths. The plant often successfully colonises cracks in walls or cliff faces and stable dunes. [6]

C. rotundifolia is more inclined to occupy climates that have an average temperature below 0 °C in the cold months and above 10 °C in the summer. [30]

In Iceland, research on Campanula rotundifolia has revealed that it is a host of at least three species of pathogenic fungi, Coleosporium tussilaginis , Puccinia campanulae and Sporonema campanulae (and the teleomorph Leptotrochila radians ). [31]

In culture

The harebell is dedicated to Saint Dominic.[ citation needed ]

In 2002 Plantlife named it the county flower of Yorkshire in the United Kingdom. [32]

William Shakespeare makes a reference to 'the azured hare-bell' in Cymbeline:

With fairest flowers,
Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele,
I'll sweeten thy sad grave: thou shalt not lack
The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose, nor
The azured hare-bell, like thy veins; no, nor
The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander,
Out-sweeten'd not thy breath. [33] [note 1]

Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) wrote a poem entitled 'Hope is Like A Harebell':

Hope is like a harebell, trembling from its birth,
Love is like a rose, the joy of all the earth,
Faith is like a lily, lifted high and white,
Love is like a lovely rose, the world's delight.
Harebells and sweet lilies show a thornless growth,
But the rose with all its thorns excels them both. [34]

Emily Dickinson uses the harebell as an analogy for desire that grows cold once that which is cherished is attained:

Did the Harebell loose her girdle
To the lover Bee
Would the Bee the Harebell hallow
Much as formerly?
Did the paradise – persuaded
Yield her moat of pearl
Would the Eden be an Eden
Or the Earl – an Earl [35]

Notes

  1. In Jessica Kerr's and Opelia Dowden's Shakespeare's Flowers published in 1970 they infer that Shakespeare was actually making reference to Hyacinthoides non-scripta .

Related Research Articles

<i>Trillium erectum</i> Species of flowering plant

Trillium erectum, the red trillium, also known as wake robin, purple trillium, bethroot, or stinking benjamin, is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae. The plant takes its common name "wake robin" by analogy with the European robin, which has a red breast heralding spring. Likewise Trillium erectum is a spring ephemeral plant whose life-cycle is synchronized with that of the forests in which it lives. It is native to the eastern United States and eastern Canada from northern Georgia to Quebec and New Brunswick.

<i>Hyacinthoides non-scripta</i> Species of flowering plant

Hyacinthoides non-scripta is a bulbous perennial plant found in Atlantic areas from the north-western part of the Iberian Peninsula to the British Isles, and also frequently used as a garden plant. It is known in English as the common bluebell or simply bluebell, a name which is used in Scotland to refer to the harebell, Campanula rotundifolia. In spring, H. non-scripta produces a nodding, one-sided inflorescence of 5–12 tubular, sweet-scented violet–blue flowers, with strongly recurved tepals, and 3–6 long, linear, basal leaves.

<i>Campanula</i> Genus of flowering plants in the bellflower family Campanulaceae

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".

<i>Campanula carpatica</i> Species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae

Campanula carpatica, the tussock bellflower or Carpathian harebell, is a species of flowering plant in the family Campanulaceae.

<i>Heracleum sphondylium</i> Species of flowering plant in the celery family Apiaceae

Heracleum sphondylium, commonly known as hogweed or common hogweed, is a herbaceous perennial plant in the carrot family Apiaceae, which includes fennel, cow parsley, ground elder and giant hogweed. It is native to most of Europe, western Asia and northern Africa, but is introduced in North America and elsewhere. Other common names include cow parsnip or eltrot. The flowers provide a great deal of nectar for pollinators.

<i>Symphyotrichum laeve</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to central and eastern North America

Symphyotrichum laeve is a flowering plant native to Canada, the United States, and Coahuila (Mexico). It has the common names of smooth blue aster, smooth aster, smooth-leaved aster, glaucous Michaelmas-daisy and glaucous aster.

<i>Campanula rapunculoides</i> Species of flowering plant

Campanula rapunculoides, known by the common names creeping bellflower, rampion bellflower, rover bellflower, garden bluebell, creeping bluebell, purple bell, garden harebell, and creeping campanula, is a perennial herbaceous plant of the genus Campanula, belonging to the family Campanulaceae. Native to central and southern Europe and west Asia, in some parts of North America it is an extremely invasive species.

<i>Lumnitzera</i> Genus of trees in the Combretaceae family growing from Africa to Asia to northern Australia

Lumnitzera is an Indo-West Pacific mangrove genus in the family Combretaceae. An English common name is black mangrove. Lumnitzera, named after the German botanist, Stephan Lumnitzer (1750-1806), occurs in mangroves from East Africa to the Western Pacific, and northern Australia.

<i>Pulsatilla nuttalliana</i> Species of flowering plant

Pulsatilla nuttalliana, known as American pasqueflower, prairie pasqueflower, prairie crocus, or simply pasqueflower, is a flowering plant native to much of North America, from the western side of Lake Michigan, to northern Canada in the Northwest Territories, south to New Mexico in the southwestern United States. Pasqueflower is the provincial flower of Manitoba and the state flower of South Dakota.

<i>Tetraneuris acaulis</i> Species of flowering plant in the sunflower family

Tetraneuris acaulis is a North American species of flowering plants in the sunflower family. It is known by many common names in English including stemless four-nerve daisy, stemless hymenoxys, butte marigold, and stemless rubberweed.

<i>Symphyotrichum subulatum</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to the Americas

Symphyotrichum subulatum, commonly known as eastern annual saltmarsh aster or, in Britain and Ireland where it is naturalized, annual saltmarsh aster, is an annual plant in the family Asteraceae native to the eastern United States and the Gulf Coast to Texas. The species grows primarily in coastal salt marshes, although in the Ozarks it occurs as a non-marine weedy variety.

<i>Campanula alaskana</i> Species of flowering plant

Campanula alaskana, the Alaska bellflower, is a species of flowering plant in the family Campanulaceae, native to north-western North America. It was first described by Asa Gray in 1886 as Campanula rotundifolia var. alaskana and elevated to a full species by William Wright in 1918.

<i>Mertensia lanceolata</i> Species of plant in the borage family

Mertensia lanceolata, known as prairie bluebells, lance-leaved bluebells, lance-leaved lungwort, and narrow-leaved languid ladies is a species of flowering plant native to the Rocky Mountains and areas of the northern Great Plains in western North America. A herbaceous perennial it has blue-green leaves alternately arranged on its smooth flowering stalk. Its flower buds are pink-purple and become blue as they open.

Occurring as a shrub or as a tree, Daphniphyllum majus is a species in the family Daphniphyllaceae. It is found in Mainland Southeast Asia and Yunnan in Zhōngguó/China. Uses of the plant include fuel and smoking-material.

Elaeocarpus stipularis is a tree in the Elaeocarpaceae family. It is found from the Aru Islands, eastern Indonesia, to Philippines, and through Mainland Southeast Asia to Odisha, India. It has edible fruit, its wood is used and some medical uses are ascribed to it.

<i>Symphyotrichum spathulatum</i> Flower in the family Asteraceae

Symphyotrichum spathulatum is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae native to western North America including northwestern Mexico. Commonly known as western mountain aster, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant that may reach 20 to 80 centimeters tall. Its flowers, which open in July and August, have violet ray florets and yellow disk florets.

<i>Penstemon ambiguus</i> Species of flowering plant

Penstemon ambiguus, commonly known as the bush penstemon, pink plains penstemon, or gilia beardtongue is a species of Penstemon that grows in the shortgrass prairies and deserts of the western United States and northern Mexico. This bush-like penstemon grows in sandy, loose, and creosote soils and is particularly known for the spectacular flowering show it produces, sometime seasons turning whole hillsides bright pink–white.

<i>Campanula petiolata</i> Species of flowering plant

Campanula petiolata is a flowering plant that is called western harebell when it is distinguished from Campanula rotundifolia or simply harebell when it is considered the same species. It is in the bellflower family (Campanulaceae). This herbaceous perennial is found in areas of western North America with continental climates. It produces violet-blue, bell-shaped flowers in late summer and autumn. It is closely related to Campanula rotundifolia and is considered either a subspecies or the same species by many botanists.

<i>Penstemon caespitosus</i> Species of flowering plant

Penstemon caespitosus, commonly known as mat penstemon, is a summer blooming perennial flower in the large Penstemon genus. It is a widespread plant from near timberline to the foothills in the Southern Rocky Mountains and Colorado Plateau in North America. It is noted for its ground hugging growth habit and as a plant used in xeriscape and rock gardening.

References

  1. "Campanula rotundifolia". World Checklist of Selected Plant Families . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew via The Plant List. Note that this website has been superseded by World Flora Online
  2. 1 2 3 Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia (18 April 2023). "Campanula rotundifolia Linnaeus - Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN)". Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN). Retrieved 1 May 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. "Sveriges nationalblomma". 13 March 2021.
  4. Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for Gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN   978-1845337315.
  5. Stace, C. A. (2019). New Flora of the British Isles (Fourth ed.). Middlewood Green, Suffolk, U.K.: C & M Floristics. ISBN   978-1-5272-2630-2.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Stevens, C.J.; Wilson, J; McAllister, H.A. (2012). "Biological Flora of the British Isles: Campanula rotundifolia". Journal of Ecology . 100 (3): 821–839. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2745.2012.01963.x .
  7. Blamey, M.; Fitter, R.; Fitter, A (2003). Wild flowers of Britain and Ireland: The Complete Guide to the British and Irish Flora. London: A & C Black. ISBN   978-1408179505.
  8. Jeffree, E.P. (1960). "Some long-term means from the Phenological reports (1891–1948) of the Royal Meteorological Society". Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. 86 (367): 95–103. Bibcode:1960QJRMS..86...95J. doi:10.1002/qj.49708636710.
  9. Tenaglia, Dan. "Campanula rotundifolia page". Missouri Plants. Missouri Botanical Garden.
  10. Chayka, Katy; Dziuk, Peter (2016). "Campanula rotundifolia (Harebell)". Minnesota Wildflowers. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  11. POWO (2023). "Campanula rotundifolia L." Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  12. POWO (2023). "Campanula alaskana (A.Gray) W.Wight ex J.P.Anderson". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  13. POWO (2023). "Campanula giesekiana Vest ex Schult". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  14. POWO (2023). "Campanula intercedens Witasek". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  15. POWO (2023). "Campanula kladniana (Schur) Witasek". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  16. POWO (2023). "Campanula macrorhiza J.Gay ex A.DC". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  17. POWO (2023). "Campanula moravica (Spitzn.) Kovanda". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  18. POWO (2023). "Campanula nejceffii Marinov & Stoyanov". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  19. POWO (2023). "Campanula petiolata A.DC". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  20. POWO (2023). "Campanula ruscinonensis Timb.-Lagr". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  21. POWO (2023). "Campanula willkommii Witasek". Plants of the World Online . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew . Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  22. WFO (2023). "Campanula L." World Flora Online. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
  23. 1 2 USDA, NRCS (n.d.). "Campanula rotundifolia L.". The PLANTS Database (plants.usda.gov). Greensboro, North Carolina: National Plant Data Team. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  24. Ackerfield, Jennifer (2015). Flora of Colorado. Fort Worth: BRIT press. pp. 261–262. ISBN   978-1-889878-45-4.
  25. Miller, W. (1884), A Dictionary of English Names of Plants: Applied in England and Among English-speaking People to Cultivated and Wild Plants, Trees, and Shrubs, J. Murray
  26. Quattrocchi, U. (2012), CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants: Common Names, Scientific Names, Eponyms, Synonyms, and Etymology (5 Volume Set), Taylor & Francis, ISBN   9781420080445
  27. 1 2 Anderberg, Arne. "Den Virtuella Floran, Campanula rotundifolia L." Naturhistoriska riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden.
  28. Brouillet L, Desmet P, Coursol F, Meades SJ, Favreau M, Anions M, Bélisle P, Gendreau C, Shorthouse D, et al. (2010). "Campanula Linnaeus". Database of Vascular Plants of Canada (VASCAN). Retrieved 16 May 2020.
  29. McAllister, H.A. 1973. The experimental taxonomy of Campanula rotundifolia L. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Glasgow
  30. Shetler SG. 1982 Variation and evolution of Nearctic harebells (Campanula subsect. Heterophylla). Phan. Monogr. 11. 1-516 (1982)- En Abstr. in Excerpta Bot., A, 39(1): p.20 (1982).
  31. Helgi Hallgrímsson & Guðríður Gyða Eyjólfsdóttir (2004). Íslenskt sveppatal I - smásveppir [Checklist of Icelandic Fungi I - Microfungi. Fjölrit Náttúrufræðistofnunar. Náttúrufræðistofnun Íslands [Icelandic Institute of Natural History]. ISSN 1027-832X
  32. Plantlife website County Flowers page Archived 2015-04-30 at the Wayback Machine
  33. William Shakespeare, Cymbeline (iv. 2), Arviragus speech
  34. Christina G Rossetti, A Nursery Rhyme Book, Macmillan and Co., London, New York (1893)
  35. Emily Dickinson, Did the Harebell loose her girdle, Volume: Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, first published in 1955