Family - Campanulaceae

Stems - To 1m tall, angular, glabrous to pubescent on angles, herbaceous, with milky sap.

Stem with milky sap.

Leaves - Alternate, sessile, oblong to lanceolate or oblanceolate, 2-6cm broad, to 15cm long, crisped or toothed(or both) on margins, typically pubescent on both surfaces, acute at the apex.

Inflorescence - Terminal raceme with +20 flowers. Flowers subtended by foliaceous bracts.

Flowers - Resupinate. Corolla purple-blue, tubular, 2-3cm long, with perforations (fenestrate), 5-lobed. Filaments united into a tube to 1.5cm long and surrounding style. Pedicels with pair of small bracteoles at or above the middle. Calyx pubescent to glabrous, +/-1.5cm long. Calyx lobes 5-6mm broad, with auricles at base.

Calyx.

Flower.

Again.

Flowering - August - October.

Habitat - Wet areas.

Origin - Native to U.S.

Other info. - Steyermark splits the species into two varieties. The most common being variety siphilitica. A white flowered form of var. siphilitica, f. albiflora, is presented on the "White flowers alternate" portion of this website. Another form, form purpurea Palmer &Steyermark, has very deep purple flowers.
The second variety is variety ludoviciana A. DC., which has fewer flowers in the inflorescence and leaves and stems which are mostly glabrous. The two varieties intergrade and may not be valid.
This species is quite common along pond margins and and in wet woods and meadows. The brilliant flowers have earned the plant a place in cultivation and it is becoming quite common. The plant is somewhat toxic.

Photographs taken in the Ozark Scenic Riverways, Shannon County, MO., 8-15-03.