Nettle-leaved Bellflower / Koprivastolisna zvončika

Habitat:

It is a Eurasian blue wildflower native to Denmark and England and now naturalized in southeast Ireland. It is also found southward through Europe into Africa.

Notes:

The alternate name Throatwort is derived from an old belief that Nettle-leafed campanulas are a cure for sore throat, & the species name trachelium refers to this old belief. There never was an actual medical benefit from the plant, which had no observable effect on the throat. But in past centuries, belief in the occult Doctrine of Signatures was very deeply stamped on superstitioius "believers." Other folknames include Our Lady's Bells because the color blue was identified with the Virgin Mary's scarf, veil, or shawl; Coventry Bells because C. trachelium was especially common in fields around Coventry; & "Bats-in-the-Belfry" or in the singular "Bat-in-the-Belfry," because the stamens inside the flower were like bats hanging in the bell of a church steeple.