Creeping Bellflower
Campanula rapunculoides
Family Campanulaceae

Characteristics:
* Flowers purple-blue, bell-shaped, with 5 pointed bracts. Most petals hang only on one side of the plant's stalk.
* Leaves narrow, toothed. Lower leaves wider and heart-shaped.
* Height: 1-3'.

Natural History:
* Flowers July - September.
* Habitat: Meadows, roadsides.
* Range: Southern Connecticut to central United States.
* Introduced from Europe.

Connections!
* A common name for Creeping Bellflower in Europe is Rampion, which comes from the plant's Latin name. In Italy, it is believed that the plant excites quarrels in children.

* Rampion figures prominently in Old World fairy tales. Rapunzel is named after the flower, and her exile to the tower is a witch's punishment to the girl's father, who stole rampion from her magic garden to help his wife in childbirth. In another story, a maid who digs up a rampion plant discovers a staircase that leads to a magnificent underground palace.