Campanula

Campanula is one of several genera in the family Campanulaceae with the common name bellflower. It takes its name from their bell-shaped flowers - campanula is Latin for "little bell".

The genus includes about 300 species and several subspecies, distributed across the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest diversity in the Mediterranean region east to the Caucasus.

The species include annual, biennial and perennial plants, and vary in habit from dwarf arctic and alpine species under 5 cm high, to large temperate grassland and woodland species growing to 2 m tall. Well-known species include the northern temperate Campanula rotundifolia, commonly known as Harebell in England and Bluebell in Scotland, and the southern European Campanula medium, commonly known as Canterbury Bells, which is a garden plant in the United Kingdom. As well as several species occurring naturally in the wild in northern Europe, there are many cultivated garden species.

Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campanula - 09.06.2010