Zois’ Bellflower
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The Zois’ Bellflower (Campanula zoysii) is a beautiful sky-blue/lavender flower endemic to the Southern-eastern Limestone Alps. It is most prevalent in Slovenia, decorating the limestone crevices high up in the Julian and Kamnik-Savinj Alps and the Karawanks¹. It bears the name of its discoverer, botanist Karl von Zois (1756–1800), who discovered it above Lake Bohinj and on Mt Storžič more than 200 years ago. It is ancient, belonging to a group of flowers dating as far back as the Tertiary period (66 million to 2.6 million years ago). Unlike other flowers of the same genus, the mouth of its bell is not open but rather “crimped”, resulting in a lovely white star. It blooms in July and August. The Juliana Alpine Botanical Garden, Slovenia’s oldest natural botanical garden, adopted this “daughter of the Slovenian mountains”² as its symbol.
The Zois’ Bellflower is also the symbol of the Kingdom of Juliana. The character of Anabell, also a daughter of the Slovenian mountains, takes her name from Juliana and Bellflower.
It is also found in the Trnovo Forest to the south, and bordering mountain regions in Italy and Austria to the west and north.
Viktor Petkovšek, O Zoisovih cvetkah (Ljubljana: Proteus, 1935).
Julius Kugy, Iz Minulih Dni (Maribor: Obzorja, 1971), 132,
“... one of the most charming and famous decorations of the Julian flora. Her bells are narrowed and closed in front, she is mute, she can’t ring. And from all the flowerbeds, only a solemn, silent invitation was heard, when she, small and delicate, precious and charming, solemnly stepped into Juliana’s Garden.”