This is a beautiful wildflower which is rarely found away from the valleys of the rivers Nore and Barrow. In July and August it bears tall, leafy spikes of blue-violet, bell-shaped flowers (3-4 cm long). Each ‘bell’ has five pointed lobes and is backed by a calyx which has five erect, narrow, pointed teeth. The plant, which can reach 100 cm high, has a 4-angled stem and is hairy and stiff. The leaves are rough and toothed, the heart-shaped lower leaves being stalked and the oval while the nettle-like stem leaves are short-stalked. They are rich green above but a paler shade of green below. This is a perennial and a native species which belongs to the Campanulaceae family.
I first recorded this lovely plant in New Ross, County Wexford when Paul Green, BSBI Vice-County Recorder for Waterford and Wexford, showed it to me.
If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre
