Yellow tones are atypical for the genus of bells, they are extremely rare. There are only two natural species with such an unusual color.
One of them is the thyrsoid bell (C. thyrsoide), also known as the “yellow bell”. This representative of the alpine flora of the Alps, the Pyrenees and the Balkans lives in dry meadows and on limestone rocks at an altitude of 1000 to 2000 m above sea level.
First described by Carl Linnaeus in his seminal work Species of Plants in 1753. It belongs to rare species because it has a limited range of existence, but where it grows in natural conditions, it can be found in large quantities, therefore it is not an endangered plant.
Yellow bell flower in the photo
The yellow bell is a perennial flower, although it is cultivated in gardens as a biennial, since it blooms only once, in the second year of life, after which it usually disappears. In nature, however, there are specimens that live up to 8 years or more.
The plant has a fleshy tap root, reaching a length of 20-40 cm, sometimes up to 1 m, a basal rosette of narrow pubescent leaves and a single straight, unbranched trunk from 10 to 100 cm high, also pubescent, covered with numerous narrow leaves. All vegetative parts contain a thick, sticky, latex-like milky sap. On each stem, mainly in its upper part, from 50 to 200 rather large, up to 3 cm in diameter, pale yellow tubular bell-shaped flowers, collected in an elongated spike-shaped inflorescence, bloom. The latter resembles a thyrsus in shape (according to mythology, the wooden rod of the ancient Greek god Dionysius), from which the name of the species comes, the thyrsoid bell. Flowering time – the first months of summer (June-July).
Using flowers yellow bluebells in the garden
It is used infrequently in culture, it is planted on alpine hills, in rocky gardens, it requires an alkaline reaction of the soil, for which limestone is added during planting, and light shelter for the winter. There is a garden form of Karniolika with shortened club-shaped inflorescences.
The second species with yellow flowers, sulfur-yellow bell (C. sulphurea), is not grown in the middle lane in open ground. This annual drought-resistant plant lives on sandy soils in the forests and shrubs of the Mediterranean countries, is found in the shrub steppes, semi-steppes and deserts of Israel, Syria and Egypt. Its straight or creeping branching stems are bare or slightly pubescent, the leaves are small, alternate, smooth, entire, single five-petal star-shaped flowers bloom at the ends of the shoots. The culture belongs to the group of ephemera, blooms in February-May, and in the hot summer period, the ground part of the flower dies off completely. Propagated by seeds, including self-sowing.