• Scientific Name: Platycodon grandiflorus (Jacq.) A.DC.
• Ref: Monogr. Campan.:125. 1830
• Synonyms:
  • Campanula gentianoides Lam.
  • C. glauca Thunb.
  • C. grandiflora Jacq.
  • Platycodon autumnalis Decne.
  • P. chinensis Lindl. & Paxton
  • P. glaucus (Thunb.) Nakai
  • P. glaucus f. albiflorus Honda
  • P. sinensis Lem.
  • Wahlenbergia grandiflora (Jacq.) Schrad.
• English Common Name: platycodon, Chinese bellflower, balloon flower
• Chinese Common Name: 桔梗 jiégěng, 铃铛花/铃当花 língdāng∙huā
• Japanese Common Name: キキョウ [桔梗] kikyō
• Family: Campanulaceae
• Genus: Platycodon
• Distribution: Sunny herb communities, thickets, rarely in forests; below 2000 m. Anhui, Chongqing, Fujian, Guangdong, N Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, E Sichuan (west to Pingwu and Liangshan), SE Yunnan (Mengzi, Wenshan, Yanshan), Zhejiang [Japan, Korea, Russia (Far East, SE Siberia); widely cultivated elsewhere].
• Photo: Mt. Dapan, Zhejiang

Stems 20-120 cm tall, usually glabrous, rarely densely puberulent, simple, rarely branched above. Leaf blade adaxially green, ovate, elliptic, or lanceolate, 2-7 × 0.5-3.5 cm, abaxially glabrous (rarely puberulent along veins) and glaucous, adaxially glabrous, base broadly cuneate or rounded, margin serrate, apex acute or acuminate. Hypanthium hemispherical, obovoid, or obconic, rarely campanulate, glaucous. Calyx lobes triangular or narrowly triangular, sometimes toothlike. Corolla blue or purple (rarely pink or white), 1.5-4.5 cm. Capsule globose, obconic, or obovoid, 0.7-2.5 × 0.7-1.5 cm. Fl. Jul-Sep, fr. Aug-Oct. 2n = 18, 36. (Flora of China)