Rapunzel Is Not just a Princess in a Fairy Tale
Column ideas sometimes arrive by chance, and from the strangest, offhand comments. Last week, my friend Terri said, “I want to ask you about an herb. I was reading nursery stories, and did you know that Rapunzel was named after an herb? Her mother ate so many of them while she was pregnant that she decided to name her baby daughter after the plant. The herbs were stolen from a witch’s garden, so she placed a curse on the baby.”
It had been many years since I read “Rapunzel,” and I didn’t recall the reference to raiding the witch’s garden. I love researching odd stories and occurrences, and an unusual reference to the plant origin of the heroine’s name in a fairy tale piqued my interest.
Terri is correct about the origin of Princess Rapunzel’s name. When the Brothers Grimm published “”Rapunzel” in 1812, rapunzel, or Campanula rapunculus, was commonly grown in herb and vegetable gardens. The plant name would have been familiar to readers of that period.
Campanula rapunculus is a member of the Campanulaceae or bellflower family, of which there are 500 species. Campanula species are native to North Africa, Europe, and Western Asia. Other common names are bluebell and harebell. The Latin name “Campanula” translates as little bell and “rapunculus” is derived from the Latin word “rapa,” meaning small turnip, in reference to the parsnip or radish-like roots.
An English-language common name of C. rapunculus is rampion, not to be confused with ramp or Allium tricoccum, a strongly flavored spring onion, native to the eastern United States and Canada, and the focus of spring festivals in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. And, I think, the focus of a future column.
Bellflowers are easy to grow in average, well-drained soil with medium moisture in full sun to part shade and are winter-hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones 4 to 8. In our region with hot, humid summers, light afternoon shade will provide some relief from the sun and prevent drooping and wilting of the leaves and flowers.
C. rapunculus reaches a height of 2 to 3 feet with a 1 to 2 foot spread. It is a biennial, which means it has a two year plant life, producing leaves the first year and flowers and seeds the second year. Oval, toothed, stalked leaves arise from a basal clump. Upright flowering stems bear stalkless, toothless leaves and delicate blue, lilac, or white bell-shaped blossoms from June through August of the second year. Seeds ripen from August to September.
Young rapunzel leaves are eaten like spinach. The fleshy roots can be used in salads instead of radishes. Many of the Campanula species have edible leaves, roots, and flowers. The leaves of the European C. versicolor are reported to be tasty when eaten raw and are high in Vitamin C. The leaves of European species C. latifolia and C. persicifolia are eaten in salads. C. rapunculoides (the suffix –oides means “like”), so called because of its similarity to C. rapunculus, has proven to be invasive since its introduction to North America from Europe. It is informally called creeping or rampion bellflower. C. rapunculoides is difficult to control or eradicate because it propagates by three methods: seed, underground rhizomes, and fleshy, underground tubers. It will crowd out all other plants.
Every article I read about C. rapunculus, including the Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder entry for C. rapunculus referred to the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “Rapunzel,” making this column whimsical and fun to research and write. Even serious scientists enjoy a good fairy tale.
An added bonus was the discovery of the blog “The Botanist in the Kitchen,” written by two Ph.D- prepared professors, self-described “plant ecologists and evolutionary botanists who love to cook.”
Winter is a good time to explore internet sites about plants and gardening. It is too cold to work outside, but I can expand my gardening knowledge to include lore, historical information, and new recipes.
January 17, 2019