The common name for Campanula rapunculus is "rampion," which is a diminutive of the Latin rapum, turnip. This refers to the thick, carrot-like white root which is edible and eaten raw or cooked.
The plant is a biennial. The entire plant is usually hairless. The basal leaves are oval and pointed, widest in the middle, ~4 cm long on long winged petioles. The leaves arise directly from the top of the thickened root. Flowers are small, 2 - 2.5 cm long, narrowly bell-shaped, divided by 1/3 into pointed lobes; colour is whitish to pale blue; flowers are on short thin pedicels and held in long spikes. Calyx teeth are long (nearly as long as the petals) and very narrow; there are no appendages. The style is almost as long as the corolla, with 3 stigmas.
The natural range covers most of Europe (excluding the extreme north), south and central Russia, Caucasus, Crimea, Turkey, Syria, Iran and North Africa.

Ref.: Campanulas: A Gardener's Guide, Peter Lewis and Margaret Lynch, Timber Press, 1998

This plant is not commonly grown in North America and should not be confused with the introduced invasive, Campanula rapunculoides, which is only superficially similar in name and appearance.

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