Peach-leaved Bellflower Campanula persicifolia




Scientific Name: Campanula persicifolia (Campanulaceae).

English Name: Peach-leaved Bellflower. Also Narrow-leaved Bellflower (Bellflower family).

French Name: Campanule à feuilles de pêcher (='peach-leaved bellflower').


5 Key Characters:
  • light blue (occasionally white) 5 petalled very open cup shaped flowers, wider (3 - 4 cm diameter) than they are long, very large for a bellflower.
  • tall (up to 80cm) loose flower spikes of 2 - 6 flowers on a thin lax stem.
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Lookalikes: None in the wild, but there are many garden cultivars of this species.

Habitat: On the edges of wooded hillsides dominated by Downy Oak Quercus pubescens often situated mid-slope between the trees above and scrub below. Also dry calcareous, often very shallow soils with limestone outcrops and little shade. The preferred habitat is often fragile and ephemeral.

Flowering Period: May-June-July-August-September.

Status: Very rare in the wild in Touraine and Brenne. Can be seen on the wooded limestone ridges just to the north of Panzoult. Also at certain places along the Creuse and Anglin rivers. There are numerous garden cultivars of this species.


Photographed by Loire Valley Nature:

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