BACK to Index

El Paso County Wildflower Project Western Harebell

Western Harebell

Bloom Season: June - September
Extended Season: It is one of the few native wildflowers capable of sporadic, continuous blooming in El Paso County late into the season, sometimes holding onto blossoms until the first hard freeze in October.

Habitat: It spans an immense elevational gradient from the foothills to the alpine tundra (roughly 5,500 to over 13,000 feet). In El Paso County, this ranges from the lower sandstone formations up to the slopes of Pikes Peak.

Photography Notes: Susceptible to a breeze

Credits: Jason Fazio, 18 October

Campanula petiolata is a flowering plant that is called western harebell when it is distinguished from Campanula rotundifolia or simply harebell when it is considered the same species. It is in the bellflower family (Campanulaceae). This herbaceous perennial is found in areas of western North America with continental climates. It produces violet-blue, bell-shaped flowers in late summer and autumn. It is closely related to Campanula rotundifolia and is considered either a subspecies or the same species by many botanists.

Campanula petiolata is a slender, prostrate to erect herbaceous perennial 10–50 centimeters tall when fully developed. The leaves at the base of the plant (basal leaves) are round to egg shaped (ovate) in shape, mostly toothed, and usually disappear before the plants flower.[2] The basal leaves are more often ovate than round.[3]

Image Credit: Jason Fazio - 08 July

Image Credit: Jason Fazio - 08 July

Edit necessary? Contact me

BACK to Index

Western Harebell (native) is one of many wildflowers featured in the El Paso CO Wildflower Project, a community-built field guide documenting the wildflowers of El Paso County, Colorado.