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Creeping Bellflower
Campanula rapunculoides
Aprille Kearsey • AGN 1740 • 11 March, 2014
Family: Campanulaceae
Species: Campanula rapunculoides
Life cycle: Creeping Perennial
Identification:
Size:
low growing clumped foliage in spring
1m tall flowering spike in the summer
Classified as Noxious in the Alberta Weed Control Act.
Flowers:
purple 2-3cm long nodding bells,
composed of five united petals,
blooms beginning on lower stems
Habitat:
- can grow in both full sun and full shade
- tends to prefer light sandy to medium
loamy, well-drained, pH neutral soils
Fruit:
round capsule that contains many seeds
that are spread very easily by the wind
- can push roots under fences, through lawns
and even underneath concrete and sidewalks
Adaptations:
- is adapted to grow almost anywhere
Leaves:
are alternate and differ depending on
which part of the plant they are located;
lower leaves have stalks and are heartshaped with coarsely-toothed margins,
while upper leaves are sessile and lanceshaped with hairs on the lower surface
- can produce up to 15,000 seeds/plant
- resistant to many herbicides; ie- 2,4-D
- extremely complex creeping root system
Rhizomes:
persistent, widely spreading,
fleshy, whitish, underground
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Management:
Creeping Bellflower’s pleasing look is often mistaken for a desirable garden plant but is
actually quite invasive and can aggressively invade lawns and gardens. To stop the spread
you can:
- remove plants as they appear in your yard by digging out as much of the root as possible
- avoid introducing this plant to your yard through wildflower seed mixes or potted plants
- never compost this species; dispose of all plant parts by bagging and sending to a landfill
Effectiveness of management techniques:
Once established, creeping bellflower is very difficult to remove. For two main reasons:
- even the smallest of root fragments can grow entirely new plants
- resistance to...