Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Nettle-leaved Bellflower
Campanula trachelium
- Synonym: Bats-in-the-Belfry
- Family: Bellflower Family – Campanulaceae
- Growing form: perennial herb. Rootstock short.
- Height: 40–100 (ca. 15–40 in.). Stem erect, unbranched, sharp-angled, usu. reddish and hairy.
- Flower: Corolla bell-shaped, erect at first, later somewhat nodding, 25–45 mm (1–2 in.) long. Petals 5, united, violet-blue (sometimes white). Sepals 5, united. Stamens 5. Pistil of 3 fused carpels. Flowers borne in leafy terminal racemes.
- Leaves: Alternate. Lowermost leaves long-stalked, stalk usu. only narrowly winged, blade heart-shaped to ovate. Upper leaves stalkless, blade ovate to lanceolate. Margins of leaf-blade doubly toothed.
- Fruit: A nodding roundish capsule dehiscing basally.
- Habitat: Broadleaf woods, thickets, hazel groves, coppices.
- Flowering time: July–August.
The family name Campanula is a diminutiv of the Latin word campa which means bell. In this small bell’s family there are world-wide some 700 species belonging to 35 genera. In Finland there are some 15 species in 4 genera.
The nettle-leaved bellflower’s leaf-blades have doubly serrate margins. Hence, they resemble the leaves of the stinging nettle, just as the common name suggests. In Finland the nettle-leaved bellflower is native in the Åland Islands and in hazel woods of the south-western archipelago, i.e. in the limestone region. It requires nutrient-rich, deep, mully soil in order to thrive. Occasionally, the nettle-leaved bellflower is grown as an ornamental. Thus some of its occurrences probably originate from gardens.
