(MN edition)
Probably the most overused — and therefor confusing — common name in the plant world is 'bluebells'. All American horticulturalists know that 'bluebells' can refer not only to our wonderful Northeastern native, Mertensia virginica, but also to Hyacinthoides non-scripta and Hyacinthoides hispanica — English bluebells and Spanish bluebells.
So, knowing these three vibrant species, I was left scratching my head when my mother-in-law referred to 'bluebells' here in the Northwoods. I simply couldn't remember seeing any similarly showy bell-shaped flowers on my walks around the island.
That's because the 'bluebells' she was referring to are not vibrant or showy — at least not in the wild — and if you aren't paying close attention to the flora at your feet, you could easily trudge right by them without a glance. However, once you begin to truly notice Campanula rotundifolia — also called harebells, or bluebells of Scotland — you'll never blindly disregard them again.
Harebells, or Scottish bluebells, on a sandy embankment in the Chippewa National Forest