Campanula rotundifolia is very common in the Four Corners area; Campanula parryi is quite uncommon.  Click to see a typical display of Campanula rotundifolia.

     Linnaeus named this genus in 1753.  The family and genus names, "Campanulaceae" and "Campanula" are derived from the Latin, "campan", "bell". 

Montane, subalpine.  Meadows.  Summer, fall.
Cross Mountain Trail, August 8, 2007.

This Harebell is relatively uncommon in our area so it is a delight to find. Its flowers are larger than C. rotundifolia's, they range from light to bright purple, and they are either upright or slightly nodding at the end of the stem.  When you do find this species, you usually find just a few plants together, not the dozens that are common for C. rotundifolia, shown below.

Campanula parryi was named by Asa Gray in 1886 from specimens collected in Colorado by Charles Parry, an eminent  19th century explorer and naturalist.  Joseph Hooker called Parry the "King of Colorado botany" and many Colorado plants are named for him. (More biographical information.)

Montane, subalpine.  Meadows.  Summer, fall.
Cross Mountain Trail, August 8, 2007.

Several details help distinguish the two Campanulas shown on this page.  Generally C. parryi flowers are usually single, purple, erect, and the lobes are about half the height of the entire flower bell; C. rotundifolia flowers are multiple in racemes, blue, nodding, and lobed about one third of the flower bell.  C. parry has larger flowers.   C. parryi usually has long, narrow sepals (hugging the back of the flower) that reach to the cut in the flower lobes; C. rotundifolia sepals are much shorter.  The basal leaves of C. parryi are long and narrow; C. rotundifolia gets its specific name from its round basal leaves (which are dried and often not visible at flowering time).

Despite these seemingly clear-cut differences in the plants, it is often quite difficult to tell which plant you are looking at in the field.

Montane, subalpine.  Meadows.  Summer, fall.
Colorado Trail above Roaring Fork, July 26, 2004.

Harebells, also known as "Blue Bells of Scotland", are quite common from mid-summer to frost, from low meadows to high subalpine ridges.  They are found in twos and threes or in large colonies that give a delicate blue/violet cast to meadows.  (Click to see.)  Flowers almost always nod; color ranges from light blue/violet to deeper blue/purple; stem leaves are narrow and an inch or two long; basal leaves are usually withered at flowering time but are round; there may be a slight amount of pubescence on the lower stem and stem leaf bases.

Montane, subalpine.  Meadows.  Summer, fall.
Colorado Trail above Roaring Fork, July 26, 2004.

Montane, subalpine.  Meadows.  Summer, fall.
Colorado Trail above Roaring Fork, July 26, 2004.
Lone Mesa State Park, July 2, 2008.  (Lower flower and bud.)

Compare the length of the sepals on C. rotundifolia with those above on C. parryi.  The sepals on C. rotundifolia do not reach to the cleft in the bell lobes. The lower C. rotundifolia flower is the first on this plant and is erect (a characteristic of C. parryi) but it will droop as the flower stalk elongates and new flowers emerge.

Flower buds are erect and folded.  Notice the second tiny bud at the base of the large bud.

Montane, subalpine.  Meadows.  Summer, fall.
Rough Canyon Trail, August 16, 2007.

The name "rotundifolia", from the Latin for "round leaves", was given to this plant to describe the basal leaves, but as you can see, basal leaf shape varies.  (The long, narrow leaves in the lower center of the top photograph belong to another plant; the other leaves are those of C. rotundifolia. The dark stem and stem leaves of a flowering Campanula rotundifolia arch in the upper left corner of the top photograph.)