}
Spreading bellflower (lat. Campanula patula) is one of several genera of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae commonly known as bellflowers. They take both their common and scientific names from the bell-shaped flowers — campanula is Latin for "little bell".
Campanula patula or spreading bellflower is a plant species of the genus Campanula. It can grow to more than half a meter high.
Spreading bellflower is native to temperate parts of Europe and widely naturalised elsewhere. Its natural habitat is meadows, banks, open woodland, clearings, roadside verges, fallow fields and waste ground.
The genus includes over 500 species and several subspecies, distributed across the temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest diversity in the Mediterranean region east to the Caucasus. The range also extends into mountains in tropical regions of Asia and Africa.
Uses
Bluebells are widely planted as garden plants, either among trees or in herbaceous borders. They flower at the same time as hyacinths, Narcissus and some tulips. Their ability to reproduce vegetatively, using bulb offsets and seed, means that they can spread rapidly, and may need to be controlled as weeds.
In common with other members of their genus, bluebells - particularly their bulbs - are normally considered to be toxic. Bluebells synthesise a wide range of chemicals with potential medicinal properties: they contain at least 15 biologically active compounds that may provide them with protection against insects and animals. Certain extracts – water-soluble alkaloids – are similar to compounds tested for use in combating HIV and cancer.
The bulbs of bluebells are used in folk medicine as a remedy for leucorrhoea, and as a diuretic or styptic, while the sap can be used as an adhesive.
(text source)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campanula_patula
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinthoides_non-scripta
Something interesting about bluebell flowers and superstitions attached to them taken from
https://homestratosphere.com/types-of-bluebell-flowers/
As beautiful and breathtaking these flowers are, they are equally believed to be magical and have superstitions attached to them.
Bluebells are supposedly a tool for calling out fairies, which you can do by ‘ringing’ the bells of these flowers just like you would ring a normal bell. Strangely though, no one has ever heard a bluebell ‘ring’ nor does anyone know what sound these flowers could make.
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