Campanula rapunculoidesL. - Creeping Bellflower
Scientific Description:
Glabrous to shortly pubescent perennial. Root thick, branched, sometimes with long stolons. Stem 30−100 cm, usually simple, erect, ± striate, glabrous or pubescent, scabrid, leafy. Basal and lower cauline leaves cordate, ovate to oblong, to 10 × 5 cm, long-petiolate, dentate; upper lanceolate, sessile, dentate. Flowers usually solitary, in branched, racemose, secund inflorescence. Calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, deflexed, much shorter than corolla. Corolla infundibular-campanulate, divided to 1/3 into ovate, acute lobes with ciliate margin, blue-violet. Style ± as long as corolla. Stigmas 3. Capsule globose, nodding, opening by 3 basal pores. Seeds oblong, flattened, 1.2−1.5 × 0.7−0.8 mm, and brown, shiny.
Flowering time: July−August.
Habitat: Picea Link. forest, rocky slopes, limestone cliffs, 300−2200 m.
subsp. cordifolia (K.Koch) Damboldt
Median cauline leaves deeply cordate; corolla 1−2.3 cm.
Reference:
Damboldt J (1978). Campanula rapunculoides L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 6: 16.
Public Description:
Campanula rapunculoides subsp. cordifolia, common names “creeping bellflower” or “rampion bellflower”, is native to Europe and Western Siberia and it has been introduced to North America, where it has become an extremely invasive weed. Each plant can produce 15,000 seeds and it also reproduces through its long tuberous root system. It grows on fields and roadsides, along railway lines and hedgerows, preferably in partial shade, in dry to moist sites and on clay soils, relatively rich in nitrogen, at an altitude of 0–2,000 metres above sea level. It also occurs in cultivated fields as a weed. It chokes out other plants, and eliminating it is nearly impossible due to its multiple propagation mechanisms.
References:
Anonymous 1 (2015). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campanula_rapunculoides, Accessed date: 29.12.2015.
Anonymous 2 (2015). http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?latinname=Campanula+rapunculoides, Accessed date: 29.12.2015.
İkinci N (2012). Campanula L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 303–310.