Place: Generalfjella, |
Place: Ossian Sarsfjellet, |
Place: Dyrevika, Kongsfjorden |
Place: Generalfjella, |
Life span
Perennial, but probably short-lived.
Growth form
Solitary, rarely colonial herb with short creeping stems, only rarely branching, most leaves basal, and erect flowering stems up to 6–10 cm.
Leaf
Leaves alternate; basal leaves narrowly lanceolate or elliptic, 2–4, entire or crenate, stem leaves shorter and narrower.
Inflorescence
Flowers singly at top of stems, nodding at flowering but becoming erect in fruit stage.
Flower
Calyx fused with 5 linear, appressed lobes, tube and lobes pubescent, 1–2(–3) cm long. Corolla fused, narrowly bell-shaped or trumpet-shaped, dull blue, with 5 lobes cut to more than 1/3 of
corolla length, protruding 0.5–1.5 cm from the calyx tube.
Fruit
Fruit a narrowly ovoid capsule with apical pores.
Reproduction
There is no known vegetative reproduction in this species, thus is relies on sexual reproduction to maintain populations. Flowers in mid July to mid August. Bisexual flowers which are pollinated
by insects. Self pollination is probably common. Local seed dispersal facilitated by stiff stem and capsule with apical pores, resulting in ballistic dispersal with strong winds or touching animals (reindeer). No information exists about germination rate of seeds of the Svalbard populations, but the plant must recruit regularly as populations are found in the same locations over time.
Comparison
The two species of Campanula in Svalbard differ in way of growth (colonial in C. rotundifolia, more solitary in C. uniflora), leaf shape (obcordate to linear vs. lanceolate or elliptic), flower size and shape (broadly bell shaped and large vs. narrowly bell or trumpet shaped and small), and direction and opening of capsule (pendant with basal pores vs. erect with apical pores).
Habitat
Distribution
Found mainly in the middle arctic tundra zone and in the clearly continental to transition sections, a few locations in the north arctic tundra zone and transition section. Restricted to the warmer fjord areas in central and northern parts of Spitsbergen.
Comments
Campanula uniflora is mainly an American and Greenlandic species, reaching across the North Atlantic to Iceland, Scandinavia, and Svalbard (and across the Bering Strait to Chukotka), see Hultén & Fries (1986).
Literature
Hultén, E. & Fries, M. 1986. Atlas of North European vascular plants north of the Tropic of Cancer. I–III. – Cramer, Vaduz.
Scientific name, meaning and origin:
Campanula: Diminutiv of latin campana, bell. Name on bellspecies by Leonhard Fuchs, 1542.
uniflora, uniflorus: With one flower.
See all
Campanula uniflora
 | English name: | Alpine Hairbell, Alpine Bluebell |
 | German name: | |
 | Norwegian name: | Høgfjellsklokke |
Familiy:Campanulaceae
