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(Campanula rotundifolia )
"The azured hare-bell, like thy veins..."
- William Shakespeare, Cymbeline
With its papery petals and delicate appearance, you might think the harebell a rather fragile wild flower. In fact, it's incredibly tough and resilient. It needs to be given the environment it grows in: the harebell is a wild flower of dry, open places from the bare slopes of hills to the windswept coast.
How to spot it
Hanging blue bells on slender stalks. Grows 15-40cm tall. Roundish leaves at base, very narrow linear leaves up stem. (Source: the National Plant Monitoring Scheme Species Identification Guide).
Where it grows
Dry, grassy places.
Best time to see
July to September.
- It is the County Flower of Dumfriesshire, Yorkshire and County Antrim.
- In the Language of Flowers it stands for childhood, grief, humility, and submission.
How's it doing?
Generally stable although there have been some local declines at the edges of its range.
3 things you may not know
- The harebell is called the bluebell of Scotland (although a different species to the bluebell more famous south of the border). It is also known as the cuckoo's shoe, witch bells or old man's bell - the 'old man' being the devil himself.
- Dreaming about harebells is said to symbolise true love.
- In County Antrim it is a fairy plant, mearacan puca, the goblin's (or Puck's) thimble. Pick it at your peril.