Edraianthus
Encyclopedia
Edraianthus is a small genus
of flowering plant
s in the bellflower family Campanulaceae
. Edraianthus species are native to the mountains of the Balkan, including Croatia
, Bosnia
and Serbia
, and as far as Romania
, Italy
and Greece
.
They are small perennial
mountain plants, with tufts of grassy leaves and fine bell flowers, usually blue. They are often used as ornamental plant
s in rock garden
s.
The genus name is derived from the Greek
hedraios (sitting) and anthos (flower).
Ten species of the genus Edraianthus are often placed in genus Wahlenbergia
instead. Selected Edraianthus species are also placed in Muehlbergella, Halacsyella or Hedraeanthus by some botanists. Campanula parnassica is sometimes classified as Edraianthus parnassica.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s in the bellflower family Campanulaceae
Campanulaceae
The family Campanulaceae , of the order Asterales, contains about 2000 species in 70 genera of herbaceous plants, shrubs, and rarely small trees, often with milky non-toxic sap...
. Edraianthus species are native to the mountains of the Balkan, including Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, and as far as Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
.
They are small perennial
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
mountain plants, with tufts of grassy leaves and fine bell flowers, usually blue. They are often used as ornamental plant
Ornamental plant
Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...
s in rock garden
Rock Garden
The Rock Garden or Rock Garden of Chandigarh is a Sculpture garden in Chandigarh, India, also known as Nek Chand's Rock Garden after its founder Nek Chand, a government official who started the garden secretly in his spare time in 1957. Today it is spread over an area of forty-acres , it is...
s.
The genus name is derived from the Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
hedraios (sitting) and anthos (flower).
Selected species
- Edraianthus dalmaticusEdraianthus dalmaticusEdraianthus dalmaticus or Dalmatian rockbell is an ornamental plant in the Campanulaceae family....
- Edraianthus dinaricus
- Edraianthus graminifolius
- Edraianthus owerinianus
- Edraianthus pumilio
- Edraianthus serbicus
- Edraianthus serpyllifolius
- Edraianthus tenuifolius
Ten species of the genus Edraianthus are often placed in genus Wahlenbergia
Wahlenbergia
Wahlenbergia is a genus of between 150-270 species of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae, with a cosmopolitan distribution except for North America; the highest species diversity is in Africa and Australasia...
instead. Selected Edraianthus species are also placed in Muehlbergella, Halacsyella or Hedraeanthus by some botanists. Campanula parnassica is sometimes classified as Edraianthus parnassica.