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Portrait of Round-headed rampion

Nature · Wildflowers & flowers

Round-headed rampion

Native · flowers Jul–Aug · chalk downland, almost only the South Downs

Phyteuma orbiculare — Campanulaceae

Round-headed rampion, the 'Pride of Sussex', is a bellflower relative whose spherical heads of about thirty deep blue-violet, narrow, curved flowers stand on stems up to 40 cm on the short turf of the chalk downs. It grows almost exclusively on the South Downs and is nationally scarce and overwhelmingly local. It was chosen as the county flower of Sussex in Plantlife's 2002 campaign.

How to spot them

  • ▸Round, tight heads of deep blue-violet flowers, each flower a narrow curved tube with a claw-like tip, so the head looks like an anemone or spiky octopus
  • ▸Heads 2–3 cm across on a single leafless stem up to about 40 cm; lower leaves oblong, toothed, on long stalks
  • ▸Grows on short, old, chalk grassland, rarely elsewhere, from July to August
  • ▸On heavily grazed turf it forms low plants with basal rosettes and short stems
  • ▸Look-alikes: spiked rampion, Phyteuma spicatum — a rare Sussex woodland plant with a cream spike and Schedule 8 protection; and sheep's-bit (Jasione montana), a bright-blue pompom of open flowers on heath and cliffs; and scabious

How to know it

Round, spiky heads of about thirty narrow, curved blue-violet flowers on short chalk turf in July and August

Round-headed rampion, Phyteuma orbiculare.

Chosen in 2002 as the county flower of Sussex, where it is nicknamed the 'Pride of Sussex'

Round-headed rampion.

A member of the bellflower family whose flower head is not a single bloom but a cluster of about 30 tubular florets, described as like an 'over-armed' octopus

Round-headed rampion — Sussex Wildlife Trust.

Downland reserves such as Malling Down, Southerham, Levin Down and Ditching Beacon are places to see this chalk-grassland plant

Round-headed rampion.

Its close relative with a cream spike is a nationally rare woodland plant of East Sussex, protected on Schedule 8 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act

The relative is spiked rampion; this is round-headed rampion, which is not on Schedule 8.

Its common name is shared with a bellflower whose roots were eaten — the 'rapunzel' of the fairy tale

Rampion (Campanula rapunculus) — the plant of Rapunzel; Phyteuma orbiculare is a relative.

Quick-fire facts

  • •Native perennial, family Campanulaceae; the flower head has about 30 individual florets (Sussex Wildlife Trust)
  • •County flower of Sussex, chosen in 2002; nickname 'Pride of Sussex'
  • •Grows almost exclusively on the chalk grassland of the South Downs, and is nationally scarce and overwhelmingly localised (Sussex Wildlife Trust)
  • •Flowers mid-summer through August; stems can exceed 40 cm, but heavily grazed plants stay short
  • •Places to see it: Malling Down, Southerham, Levin Down and Ditching Beacon
  • •Distribution is stable now but much reduced from historical ranges as agricultural intensification destroyed chalk grassland over the past 80 years
  • •Not on Schedule 8, but the closely related spiked rampion (Phyteuma spicatum) is (GOV.UK)
  • •Phyteuma is Greek for 'plant', and orbiculare means 'rounded'

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Sources