Campanulastrum americanum

Native

Moist. Wood borders, open woods, stream banks.

July to September

Blue with a white central ring

3′ to 6′

This is a 3′ to 6′ tall, erect, winter-annual or biennial forb that rises from a taproot.

The stems are erect, stout, more or less hairy, unbranched or sometimes branched above the middle. When broken or cut they exude a milky sap.

The leaves are alternate, thin, lance-shaped to oblong egg-shaped, 3″ to 6″ long, and ½″ to 2″ wide. They taper at the base and are attached to the stem by a short leaf stalk or no stalk at all. They taper gradually at the tip to a point with concave sides along the tip. The margins are toothed and have a fringe of short hairs. The upper and lower surfaces are sparsely hairy.

The inflorescence is a 4″ to 16″ spike of many flowers at the ends of the stems. The lower bracts on the spike are leaf-like, the upper bracts are much smaller. The flowers are in clusters of 1 to 3 in the axils of the bracts.

The flowers are ¾″ to 1″ wide, flat, and circular, with 5 blue petals. The petals are fused at the base into a tube, then separated into 5 widely spreading lobes. They are whitish near the throat, giving an overall appearance of white central ring. The petal lobes are egg-shaped and have wavy margins. The style is blue, as dark or darker than the petals, protrudes well beyond the petals, bends downward, then curves upward. At the end of the style is a white stigma with 3 widely spreading lobes.

The fruit is a cylinder-shaped, ¼″ to ½″ long, hairless, 3-chambered capsule with many seeds.

The widely spreading lobes and inner pale ring of this bellflower make it easy to identify. Other bellflowers in Minnesota have bell-shaped flowers.