Campanula patula

Spreading bell flower                                                          Καμπανούλα παθιασμένος


Campanlaceae - campanula family                                                                          Dicot.

 
 

The beautiful delicate Campanula patula is a flower of fields and olive groves; its bell flowers on their tall, slender stems appear among the summer grasses.  The petals are translucent violet, the colour halfway between blue and magenta. The conical flowers open with 5 spreading petals, with 5 narrow pointed green sepals between, giving the flowers a star-like appearance.

Like many tubular or bell shaped flowers, they have two phases, first the male flower parts, the stamens open, releasing pollen which is transferred to other flowers by bees, which are attracted by sweet nectar, thus ensuring cross pollination. Following a short neutral phase, the female stigma opens to accept pollen carried by bees from from other flowers. In unfavourable conditions, when cross pollination is unsuccessful, the stigmas curl backwards touching the remaining grains of pollen in the base of the flower, resulting in self fertilisation.

The flowers are similar to Campanula spathulata, but are larger and appear a little later

15-20mm,40-60cm,                                            JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
 

campanula from Latin campana = bell 

patula from Latin patulus meaning wide open

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