''Campanula piperi'' (Olympic bellflower,
[''Campanula piperi''.]
USDA PLANTS.[''Campanula piperi''.]
Burke Museum. University of Washington. Olympic harebell,
[''Campanula piperi''.]
NatureServe. 2012. Piper's bellflower
[) is a species of ]flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
in the bellflower family, Campanulaceae
The family Campanulaceae (also bellflower family), of the order Asterales, contains nearly 2400 species in 84 genera of herbaceous plants, shrubs, and rarely small trees, often with milky sap. Among them are several familiar garden plants belo ...
. It is native to the Olympic Mountains
The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus is the highest at ; however, the easte ...
on the Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and th ...
in the U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
.[ It has also been noted on ]Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest by ...
, British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
.[
]
Description
This species is a perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...
herb with stems up to 10 centimeters tall. It is hairless or with fine, rough hairs. The basal leaves are sharply toothed, widely lance-shaped blades up to 3 centimeters long. Leaves higher on the stem are similar and are alternately arranged. Flowers occur in July and August at the stem tips. Each has five toothed sepal
A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coine ...
s and a saucer-shaped blue corolla with 5 lobes about 1.2 to 1.6 centimeters long.[ White flowers are known to occur at times.][''Campanula piperi''.]
Botany Photo of the Day. UBC Botanical Garden.
Habitat
This plant grows in rocky, high-elevation habitat.[ It faced the potential threat of trampling by ]mountain goat
The mountain goat (''Oreamnos americanus''), also known as the Rocky Mountain goat, is a hoofed mammal endemic to mountainous areas of western North America. A subalpine to alpine species, it is a sure-footed climber commonly seen on cliffs an ...
s, an introduced species
An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...
in the range, but now extirpated.[
]
Cultivation
This species is cultivated in alpine plant gardens.[ A number of ]cultivar
A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...
s have been bred.[
]
History
The species name commemorates the botanist Charles Piper
Charles Vancouver Piper (16 June 1867 – 11 February 1926) was an American botanist and agriculturalist. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, he spent his youth in Seattle, Washington Territory and graduated from the University of Washi ...
.[
]
References
External links
Turner Photographic Wildflower Image Database
{{Taxonbar, from=Q5027934
piperi
Flora of Washington (state)
Flora of British Columbia