Rampion bellflower
Campanula rapunculus
Family · Campanulaceae · Irritating
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The tall slender bellflower of verges and wood edges, with a narrow spike of lilac-blue bells. The root is the vegetable that gives its name to the character in the Grimm tale.
Roadsides and waste ground · Fields and pasture · Oak woods · Uplands
Also known asrampion, rapunzel
How to tell it
An upright slender stem to a metre, little branched. Basal leaves in a rosette, oval and stalked; stem leaves narrow and stalkless. Narrow bell flowers two to three centimetres, lilac-blue, facing up and gathered in a long narrow spike. The root is white, fleshy and tapered like a small turnip.
What it is confused with
Small bellflower
Campanula erinus
The small one is annual, a few centimetres tall, with millimetre flowers hidden among leaves; rampion reaches a metre and has a spike of clearly visible bells. Neither is dangerous.
Open sheet →What it is for
The root and young leaves were a common European vegetable until the nineteenth century, raw in salads or cooked, with a mild nutty taste. It fell out of use when more productive vegetables arrived. Traditional use, and pulling the root kills the plant, so it is not a gathering to do on a trail.
Traditionally used as food. This is not permission to eat it.