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Campanula patula
L.
Spreading Bellflower
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Essex
status: Probably casual only.
Spreading bellflower is a plant of warm sunny sites in open woodland or
disturbed ground on sandy or clayey mineral, neutral to mildly acidic
soils. It was formerly widespread as a native plant right across
southern England and up into the Welsh borders. Today it is declining
rapidly, and is virtually confined to the Welsh borders. Benson recorded
a plant in a meadow near Halstead c.1800. Whilst this could have been a
relic from a native site it is equally likely to have been a casual or
escape from cultivation. Gibson (1862) says of the three old records
`its claim to be naturalized appears very slight'. No post 1930 Essex
records.
TL(52)70 |
18 |
Near Danbury, garden escape, 1828. J C Harrison (Herbarium
SRD). |
|
18 |
Lt Baddow, in a hedge nr. Riffham Lodge, (c.1800). Edward
Forster. (Gibson 1862). |
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|
|
TL(52)72+ |
19 |
Near Halstead, in a meadow. c. 1800. Thomas Benson (Gibson
1862). |
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