Synonyms: Other names: harebell, European bellflower Nomenclature: rapunculoides = like rapunkel Nativity / Invasiveness: introduced plant
Edible plant
No medicinal data
Description
General: perennial by slender rootstocks, the stem hairless or short-hairy, simple or rarely branched, leafy, erect, rather stout, about 30-90 cm high.
Leaves: alternate, several, ovate or ovate-lanceolate, pointed, short-hairy, with small blunt teeth, the lower and basal leaves mostly cordate at bases, 7-15 cm long and 2-5 cm wide, slender-stalked, the upper ones short-stalked or stalkless, smaller.
Flowers: short-stalked, drooping, 15-35 mm long, several in an elongated bracted 1-sided narrow cluster. Corolla bell-shaped, blue to violet, rather deeply 5-lobed, much longer than the linear spreading calyx lobes.
July-September.
Fruits: capsules, spherical, nodding, about 8 mm in diameter, opening by pores near the base.
Distribution
In fields and along roadsides, in w. and c. parts of MT. Also from New Brunswick to Ontario, southern New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Naturalized from Europe, sometimes weedy in gardens.
Edible Uses
Leaves and young shoots of rampion bellflower are edible raw or cooked. They are rich in vitamin C and have a pleasant mild flavor. The root is edible raw or cooked. It has a nut-like flavor, and is reportedly very palatable. The young roots are best. Somewhat sweet, they can be a pleasant addition to the salad bowl.
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Edible plant
No medicinal data
