Short Description
The spreading bellflower is an annual to perennial plant that can grow to a height of 70 cm.
The lower leaves are oval and pointed, the upper ones linear to lance-shaped.
The stem is upright and generally highly branched.
The flowers are arranged in loose racemose flower heads. The individual florets are lilac to purple-blue, bell-shaped and almost split to the middle. The five petals are bent outwards in a star shape.
The fruit is an oval capsule.
Features
Spreading bellflower
Campanula patula
lilac to violet-blue bell-shaped flowers
petals split almost to the middle
In the city
In an urban environment, spreading bellflowers are often found in meadows, at the edge of bushes and in forest clearings. It prefers fresh to damp sites with sandy or loamy soil. The nutrient enrichment of the soil as the result of human activity has a negative impact. The plant prefers more nutrient-poor sites and is thus becoming rarer.
Spreading bellflowers are occasionally planted in gardens as ornamental plants.
Fun Facts
There are also white-flowered specimens.
It is a heliophyte. Its flowers always turn towards the light.
It flowers from June to July.
- Endangerment level Germany: Warning list
The buds and flowers of the spreading bellflower are edible and said to have a mildly aromatic taste reminiscent of peas.
Sources
Habitus, Tigerente, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CampanulaPatula.jpg
Blüten, Jerzy Opioła, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Campanula_patula_P_32.jpg
Blüten, Цветана Цукерман, CC-BY-SA-3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Campanula_patula_%D0%9A%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%87%D0%B8%D0%BA5.JPG
Eggenberg, S. & Möhl, A. (2007) Flora Vegetativa: Ein Bestimmungsbuch für Pflanzen der Schweiz im blütenlosen Zustand, Bern, Stuttgart, Wien: Haupt Verlag.
Spohn, M., Golte-Bechtle, M. & Spohn, R. (2015) Was blüht denn da? Stuttgart: Franckh Kosmos Verlag.
Jäger, E. J. (2011) Rothmaler - Exkursionsflora von Deutschland. Gefäßpflanzen: Grundband, Heidelberg: Spektrum Akademischer Verlag.
Kammer, P. M. (2016) Pflanzen einfach bestimmen. Schritt für Schritt einheimische Arten kennenlernen, Bern: Haupt Verlag.
Lippert, W. & Podlech, D. (1993) GU Naturführer. Blumen: die wichtigen Blütenpflanzen Mitteleuropas erkennen und bestimmen, München: Gräfe und Unzer Verlag.
Schauer, T., Caspari, C. & Caspari, S. (2015) Der illustrierte BLV-Pflanzenführer für unterwegs. 1150 Blumen, Gräser, Bäume und Sträucher, München: BLV.
Page „Wiesen-Glockenblume“. : Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Date of last revision: 18.12.2016, 11:22 UTC. URL: https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wiesen-Glockenblume&oldid=160765184 (Accessed: 27.12.2016).