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Trees- ShrubsVenus’s Looking Glass (Legousia pentagonia)
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Legousia pentagonia belongs to the Family Campanulaceae (1). Previously this species was found within the genus Campanula (2). It is an erect plant which reaches 0.5 m in height (1). Its leaves are narrow and linear. They are light green and they form into dense clusters all over the stems (3). The flowers grow separately, one flower per stem and they are purple, sometimes pinkish in colour. Their corolla (petals) are 1.5 to 1.8 cm long and they have five calyx (sepals) lobes which are almost as long as the ovary while it is flowering (1). Furthermore, they are hermaphrodite which means that they have both male and female organs (3).
It is an annual species (1) which blooms from July to August and it propagates with seeds (3).
This species prefers cornfields, wastelands and cultivated ground (1) which contain a variety of soils (sandy, loamy, clay). It grows in acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot however grow in shady places but it does requires moist soil (3).
It is found all over Europe, especially in the Mediterranean region (1). It is a native species of many eastern Mediterranean countries (3).
Not mentioned on the IUCN Red List (4).
Description written by Anna Theodoridou (2009)
1) Polunin. O. (1980) Flowers of Greece and the Balkans, Oxford University Press, London
2) Blamey. M., and Grey-Wilson. C. (1993) Mediterranean Wild Flowers, Harper Collins Publishers, London
3) Plants for a Future (2008) Legousia pentagonia (L.) Druce [online] Available:
http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Legousia+pentagonia [date accessed: 17/08/2009]
4) IUCN (2009) IUCN Red List of Threatened Species [online] Available:
http://www.iucnredlist.org [date accessed: 17/08/2009]
