National Council for The Conservation of Plants and Gardens
National Collection of the Genus Codonopsis and Allied Genera
Codonopsis clematidea
The most frequently encountered member of the genus and an easy garden plant with pale blue campanulate bells with fine darker blue lines on the outside and two purple concentric rings on the inside and orange and black at the base.
In our experience this can be a quite variable species but hardly surprising considering its vast range. This is a non climber but will twine on low supports up to a height of 3' flowering around mid June.
The seed is brown and relatively large. As mentioned in the Identification section this is an easy species to spot early since the bud is totally enclosed by the calyx lobes.
Afghanistan to Himachal Pradesh
©Mike Ireland
©Mike Ireland