ADDISONIA 13 
(Plate 167) 
PLATYCODON GRANDIFLORUM 
Japanese Bellflower 
Native of eastern Asia 
Family CAMPANULACEAE BELLFLOWER Family 
Campanula grandiflora Jacq. Hort. Vindob. 3:4. 1775. 
Platycodon grandiflorum A.DC. Monog. Camp. 125. 1830. 
As early as the year 1775 a great Asiatic bellflower was grown in 
the botanic garden at Vienna, from seeds sent to Jacquin from 
Siberia. He described it as Campanula grandiflora. A few years 
later similar plants were introduced into England from Japan, 
and various forms, such as autumnalis, chinensis, and sinensis, 
were sent in from Korea, China, Japan, Manchuria, and Siberia. 
They are now considered to be forms of the same species. In 
1843 Fortune introduced into England a duplex-flowered form, 
which is the one most frequently figured in horticultural publica- 
tions. Maries collected a dwarf, large-flowered form for Veitch’s 
nursery, and this, known as variety Martes?, is now in cultivation. 
Some of the other forms are of horticultural origin, while others 
appear to be geographical varieties. The Japanese call Platycodon 
“kikio,”” The Chinese, according to Mr. E. H. Wilson, boil the 
roots and extract therefrom a medicine. 
Platycodon, now considered to be a monotypic genus, differs 
from Campanula in its broadly bell-shaped flowers, the dilation of 
the base of the stamens, and the opening of the capsule at the top 
instead of at the side. 
The Japanese bellflower and its varieties are among the most 
satisfactory of garden perennials. Bushy, hardy plants, blooming 
very freely in summer and early fall, they form when once estab- 
lished a permanent feature of the hardy garden. The flowers are 
large, blue or white according to the variety, of a firm texture, 
and strongly veined; especially interesting is the corolla before the 
five lobes separate to destroy the balloon-like bud. The plants 
from which our illustration was taken have been in the herbaceous 
borders at the New York Botanical Garden since 1913, and although 
originally supposed to be variety albiflorum, some are blue- and 
some white-flowered plants. 
The best method of propagation is by means of seeds sown in the 
