Narrative

Great bellflower (Campanula latifolia) is found naturally from Europe east to northern India. This perennial can be up to about 3 feet tall. The lower leaves are somewhat ovate with a cordate base, and they are toothed. This species was named by Linnaeus, and it is the type species for the genus. This popular ornamental has several named varieties.

The blue color will help identify this lifeform. This lifeform is frequentlhy domesticated.

This lifeform is found widely in Eurasia. This non-native lifeform is now locally established in North America..

Campanula (bellflower) genus is native to the Northern Hemisphere. There are about 300 annual, biennial, or perennial herbs in this genus. The flowers are typically blue, violet, or white. The flower is typically 5-lobed or 5-parted. There are 36 species with six subspecies growing in greater North America.

Bellflower Family (Campanulaceae) is a large family of 1500-2000 species of wide distribution. As of 1994, there were about 234 species in 25 genera either native to or established in greater North America, including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, and Greenland.

Campanulate is a large order usually divided into six different families. The largest of these is the Aster (Composite) Family.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings.

Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite (Aster) Family flowers like the Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.