CAMPANULACEAE (BLUEBELL FAMILY) 



409 



CREEPING BELLFLOWER 

 Campdnula rapunculoldes, L 



Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds and by rootstocks. 



Time of bloom : July to August. 



Seed-time: August to September. 



Range: New Brunswick to Ontario, southward to Pennsylvania and 



Ohio. 

 Habitat : Fields and roadsides. 



An escape from gardens. The plant does all its "creeping" 

 underground by means of slender, horizontal rootstocks. Above 

 ground it sends up numerous stems one to three feet tall, rather 

 stout, smooth or sometimes finely hairy, 

 simple or with one or two branches near 

 the top. Leaves alternate, long-pointed 

 ovate, heart-shaped at base, irregularly 

 toothed, the lower ones with petioles, the 

 upper ones sessile, diminishing in size as 

 they ascend the stalk. Flowers in a slen- 

 der, one-sided, bracted raceme, each corolla 

 a large, five-pointed, nodding, purple bell, 

 an inch or more long, the "clapper" be- 

 ing its long, white style with three-cleft, 

 curving stigma ; stamens five, alternate 

 with the corolla lobes. The flowers unfold 

 from the base upward, leaving behind a 

 string of globular, three-celled smooth cap- 

 sules, opening by three valves at the base. 

 Seeds small and very numerous. (Fig. 286.) 



Means of control 



The plant forms spreading patches, which, 

 if not too large, may be grubbed out, care 

 being taken to get every shred of the root- 

 stocks ; or the latter may be starved by 

 close and repeated cuttings throughout the 

 growing season, salt being used on the shorn Jfc** <c< 

 surfaces in order to check new growth. rapunculoides) . x 1. 



