Campanula punctata var. punctata (spotted bellflower, "Hotarubukuro")

Japanese name: ホタルブクロ （蛍袋）
Scientific name: Campanula punctata var. punctata

[Overview]
A perennial 15–100 cm tall, found along roadsides, woodland edges and in grasslands in mountains, fields and hills.
It has a short rhizome and spreads by sending out creeping stems.
The whole plant is covered with coarse hairs, though some plants are hairless.
There are basal leaves and stem leaves; the basal leaves have withered by flowering time.
The basal leaves are ovate-cordate with long leaf stalks.
The stem leaves are simple and alternate, triangular-ovate to lanceolate, 3–14 cm long, with irregular teeth on the margin.
The leaves on the lower part of the stem have leaf stalks, and the stalks are winged.
The flowers are borne at the stem tip and in the leaf axils, and open starting from the upper part of the stem.
The flowers are bell-shaped, 2.5–5 cm long, and hang downward; the color ranges from white to reddish purple.
There are dark spots on the inside of the corolla.
The corolla is divided into 5 lobes at the tip and is densely covered with white hairs on both surfaces.
The calyx is divided into 5 lobes, with reflexed triangular appendages between the lobes.
It resembles Yama-hotaru-bukuro, but can be distinguished by the appendages between the sepals, which Yama-hotaru-bukuro lacks.
The fruit is a capsule.

[Uses]
The young shoots are eaten.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed, by division, or by cuttings of shoots.
For division, cut apart the young plants that form at the tips of the underground stems.
It prefers a well-drained site in sun to partial shade, out of the afternoon sun.
It is best planted under deciduous trees that give partial shade in summer.
It is vigorous and, if the environment suits it, grows well even when left alone.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient unless sunny weather continues and the soil becomes severely dry.
Flowering plants need little fertilizer, but potted plants may be given a slow-release chemical fertilizer with equal amounts of the three components, or diluted liquid fertilizer, in spring.
Continue giving young plants a fertilizer with equal amounts of the three components from spring to autumn.
Pests and diseases include slugs, armyworms and aphids.

[Notes]
The Japanese name is said to come from children playing by putting fireflies in this flower, or from the plant blooming when fireflies appear.

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