Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Clustered Bellflower
Campanula glomerata
- Family: Bellflower Family – Campanulaceae
- Growing form: Perennial herb. Rootstock short and thick.
- Height: 20–80 cm (8–32 in.). Stem erect, stout, reddish, sparsely-hairy.
- Flower: Bell-shaped. Corolla of 5 united petals, 16–30 (-35) mm (0.6–1.4 in.) long, deep lilac to blue. Corolla-lobes triangular, sharp-pointed. Calyx 5-lobed, lobes tapering, sharp-pointed, with toothed margins, hairy. Stamens 5, anthers longer than filaments. Pistil of 3 fused carpels, style glandular-hairy above, shorter than corolla, stigma 3-lobed. Flowers in clusters that form a raceme.
- Leaves: Alternate. Lower leaves long-stalked. Stalk at the most narrowly winged. Blade bristly on both sides, ovate to lanceolate, often with cordate base, and with fine-toothed margins. Upper leaves unstalked, slightly stem-clasping, lanceolate to elliptic, with fine-toothed margins.
- Fruit: A prominently veined, ca. 5 mm long, nodding capsule dehiscing at the base.
- Habitat: Coppices, meadow slopes, waysides, dry grassland, rich mixed forests.
- Flowering time: June–August.
The genus Campanula contains some 300 species. Many of the species are native to the mountains of Central and Southern Europe, and to the Mediterranean region. They are usually perennial herbs which contain latex.
The clustered bellflower, also a perennial, clearly benefits from human activities. It is a species of meadows and waysides, which in Finland is most common in the lake district. The variability of the clustered bellflower shows e.g. in the degree of hairiness of leaves and stem. The flowers are borne in dense clusters in the leaf axils or at the top of the stem, and they are darker coloured than the flowers of other common bellflowers in Finland.
The rare but very similar C. cervicaria differs in usu. having broadly winged petioles and blunt-pointed calyx-lobes. Furthermore, the clustered bellflower is soft-hairy, whereas the hairs of C. cervicaria are coarse.
