Phyteuma orbiculare, common name round-headed rampion or Pride of Sussex, is a

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

perennial plant of the genus ''

Phyteuma ''Phyteuma'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae, native to Europe and Morocco. The common name is rampion, a name shared with the related plant '' Campanula rapunculus''. Rampion features prominently in some versions ...

'' belonging to the family Campanulaceae.

Description

''Phyteuma orbiculare'' reaches on average of height. A deep blue, almost purple wildflower that is not as it seems: each head, rather than being a single bloom, is actually a collection of smaller ones, huddled together. The stem is erect, simple, glabrous and striated, the leaves vary in shape on a single plant, with larger, broader, ovate to lanceolate, serrated, petiolated leaves at the base of the stem and smaller, narrower, lanceolate to linear cauline leaves. The head-shaped inflorescence is a dense erect

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

of about of diameter, with usually 15 to 30 flowers. The petals are blue or violet-blue and form small tubes with an opening at the top. The outer bracts are lanceolate and usually two to four times longer than wide. The flowering period extends from May to August. The fruit is a capsule containing numerous small seeds.

Distribution

This plant is widespread in most of Europe from the Pyrenees to the Balkans. The plant can be found at low altitudes in Western Europe and in mountains of Central Europe. In the United Kingdom, the plant is more common on the South Downs than anywhere else.

Habitat

This species grows mainly in grasslands, meadows, pasturelands, and pine forests. It prefers full sun exposure on calcareous soils, at an altitude of above sea level. In the UK, its habitat is chalk grassland.

Subspecies

*''Phyteuma orbiculare'' subsp. ''flexuosum'' *''Phyteuma orbiculare'' subsp. ''montanum'' *''Phyteuma orbiculare'' subsp. ''orbiculare''

Culture

The round-headed rampion is known colloquially in the county of

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, England as the Pride of Sussex. It is also the County flower of

.Plantlife websit
''County Flowers page''
As Sussex's county flower, its name was chosen for the Rampion Wind Farm, a wind farm off the coast of Sussex.

References

*Pignatti S. - Flora d'Italia – Edagricole – 1982, Vol. II, pag. 703

External links

BiolibPhyteuma orbiculare
Campanuloideae Flora of Europe Flora of the Pyrenees Flora of the Alps {{Campanulaceae-stub