WILD FLOWERS OF NEW YORK 277 



sometimes in meadows and sandy fields. Exhibiting in its varying habitats 

 marked differences in growth and appearance. Labrador to Alaska, south 

 to New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nebraska and in the Rocky moun- 

 tains to Arizona, in the Sierra Nevada to California and also in Europe 

 and Asia. Flowering from June to September. 



Creeping or European Bellflower 



Campanula rapunculoides Linnaeus 



Plate 2I5b 



A perennial herb with slender rootstocks and smooth or pubescent 

 stems, usually not branched, leafy, erect and rather stout, I to 3 feet high, 

 the base of the stem decumbent and freely rooting at the nodes. Lower 

 leaves 3 to 6 inches long, i to 2 inches wide, ovate with heart-shaped base, 

 pointed or acuminate, the margin crenately toothed, often the blade slightly 

 pubescent; upper leaves similar but smaller and sessile. Flowers borne in 

 long, one-sided racemes, the individual flowers about i or i^ inches long, 

 drooping on short stalks, subtended by small, leafy bracts. Corolla bell- 

 shaped, blue or violet, five-lobed. Calyx lobes five in number, linear and 

 spreading. Fruit a nodding, globose capsule, about one-third of an inch 

 in diameter, opening by pores at the base. 



In fields and along roadsides, and as an escape from gardens, often 

 along fences and village streets. Naturalized from Europe. New Bruns- 

 wick to Ontario, southern New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Flowering 

 from July to September. 



The Nettle-leaved Bellflower or Throatwort (Campanula 

 trachelium Linnaeus) is similar in appearance, but the calyx and 

 outer surface of the unexpanded corolla is bristly-ciliate with long, pale 

 hairs. Called also Canterbury Bells. 



The Tall Bellflower (Campanula americana Linnaeus) is a 

 native species, not common in eastern or southern New York. Its flowers 

 are pale blue, the corolla wheel-shaped, deeply cleft into five-pointed lobes. 



