Californian Harebell. Bellflower
Campanula Prenanthoides, Durand. Harebell or Campanula Family
Stems.—Several inches to two feet high. Leaves.—Alternate; ovate-oblong to lanceolate; one inch or less long. Flowers.—Blue; on recurved pedicels. Calyx.—Growing to the ovary below; with five awl-shaped teeth. Corolla.—Five to eight lines long; with short tube and slender, spreading, recurved lobes. Stamens.—Five. Ovary.—Three-to five-celled. Style club-shaped; much exserted. Stigma becoming three-lobed. Hab.—Coast woods from Monterey to Mendocino County, and through the northern Sierras.
The fragile blossoms of the harebell lurk in the seclusion of our cool cañons or peer down at us from the banks of shaded mountain roads toward the end of July. We almost wonder that this ethereal flower dares delay its coming so long when outside its cool retreat all is parched and dry. It forms a delicate contrast to its more robust English sister, the harebell so often celebrated by the poets.