Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Harebell
Campanula rotundifolia
- Synonym: Bluebell (in Scotland)
- Family: Bellflower Family – Campanulaceae
- Growing form: Perennial herb. Rootstock thin, light-coloured, wooded with short runners.
- Height: 10–60 cm (4–24 in.). Stem slender, usually branched, glabrous.
- Flower: Corolla of 5 united petals, bell-shaped, blue, rarely white, 14–20 mm (0.5–0.8 in.). Calyx-lobes 5, slender, recurved. Stamens 5. Pistil of 3 fused carpels, style solitary, stigma 3-lobed. Flowers erect at first, later nodding, borne in a corymbose inflorescence.
- Leaves: Basal leaves soon withering, slender-stalked, blade hairless, roundish or more or less kidney-shaped, and with toothed margins. Stem leaves alternate, unstalked, narrowly elliptic to linear, with entire margins.
- Fruit: A prominently veined, roundish, nodding capsule. Seed yellowish-brown.
- Habitat: Meadows, field margins, rock outcrops, roadsides.
- Flowering time: June–September.
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 harebell is presumably the best known of Finland’s bellflowers. It differs from other bellflowers in that it has two kinds of leaves (basal leaves roundish (rotundifolia) but almost lanceolate stem leaves). The harebell is variable, and several varieties are known in Finland. They differ from each other by size, habitat, number of flowers, and branching of the inflorescence. Also white-flowered forms are known of the harebell as well as of many other bellflowers. The harebell is the county flower of Central Ostrobothnia.
