Vern.: Shell Flower, Bells of Ireland.

I.C. Hedge

Stems 50-70 cm leafy. Leaves 20-40 x 20-40 cm, ovate-orbicular, rounded, cordate or cuneate at base, ± regularly crenate or dentate. Verticillasters 4-6-flowered, distant or approximating. Bracts 9-12 mm, subulate, often connate at base, spreading. Calyx tube obconical; in fruit the limb 2-3 cm in diameter, membranous and prominently reticulately veined; lobes scarcely differentiated but with 5(-10) inconspicuous up to 0.5 mm mucros. Corolla mauve, pink to white, 15-20 mm. Nutlets acutely triquetrous and apically truncate, flat, obpyramidal, 3.5 x35 mm.

Fl. Per.: January-May.

Type: Syria (LINN 741/1 - microfiche!).

Distribution: Mediterranean area, SW Asia.

An unmistakable plant, occasionally cultivated in our area.