Flowers of the Alps

Round Headed Rampion

Phyteuma orbiculare or Kugelige Teufelskralle

Photo taken on the Kreuzjoch, Stubai Alps, at 2000m: Allan Hartley

Belonging to the Campanula family, this striking, complex flower is also known as the Devil's Claw. It likes open woods and meadows on sunny calcareous soils at an altitude of 600 - 2400m and can be found from the Pyrenees to the Balkans, and also on the chalk grassland of the South Downs in the UK. The average height is 20 - 50cm. The violet-coloured flower is in fact an inflorescence comprising 15 - 30 flowers like a sea anemone about to curl around an unlucky fly. The flowering period is from May to August and the fruit contains many small seeds.

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