Purple

What a lovely color. This is Venus’ Looking Glass (Triodanis perfoliata), in the Bellflower family (Campanulaceae). Its leaves clasp the stem, giving it another common name, Clasping Bellflower.

Native to North and South America, ranging from Canada to Argentina. Pollinators attracted to Venus’ Looking Glass are small bees, and small butterflies and skippers.

This annual herbaceous plant grows unbranched between 4 and 10 inches tall. Blooms appear in late spring into early summer. Very small seeds are wind dispersed. Much to my delight that wind has brought a couple of those seeds into the vegetable garden and now I’ve got purple blooms along with the tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers.

Published by

Brenda Clements Jones

Brenda is a certified Virginia Master Naturalist, a Habitat Defender for Shenandoah National Park, and a devoted fan of Mother Nature. She lives in a cabin in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Shenandoah National Park, and hikes up to the higher elevations of her mountain often to see what nature is up to. Her constant hiking companion is a camera that captures nature as it unfolds through the seasons. It’s her goal to share the natural world around her through her photographs.