Legousia speculum-veneris(L.) Chaix

European Venus' looking glass

WFO wfo-0000820884 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Legousia speculum-veneris, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. a Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-05 / obs. 203586151
Legousia speculum-veneris, photographed by Emanuele Santarelli
fig. b Emanuele Santarelli, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 201920522
Legousia speculum-veneris, photographed by Gabriel Mayrhofer
fig. c Gabriel Mayrhofer, CC0 1.0 / obs. 202222893
Legousia speculum-veneris, photographed by David Delon
fig. d David Delon, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 198885589
Legousia speculum-veneris, photographed by Michael Knapp
fig. e Michael Knapp, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 134109734
Legousia speculum-veneris, photographed by Kristof Zyskowski
fig. f Kristof Zyskowski, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 121138805
Legousia speculum-veneris, photographed by Patrick Hacker
fig. g Patrick Hacker, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 98121586
Legousia speculum-veneris, photographed by Jason Grant
fig. h Jason Grant, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 82114078

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
Smithsonian, US National Herbarium
Accession
US 73360
Filed as
Legousia speculum Fisch.
Det. by
not recorded on this sheet
Collected
E. Franchschi
Origin
GR
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC0 1.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 28 botanical countries

Regions where Legousia speculum-veneris is native: Cyprus, East Aegean Is., Iran, Iraq, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Corse, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kriti, Netherlands, NW. Balkan Pen., Portugal, Romania, Sardegna, Sicilia, Spain, Switzerland, Türkiye-in-Europe CyprusEast Aegean Is.IranIraqLebanon-SyriaPalestineSaudi ArabiaTürkiyeAlbaniaAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCorseFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKritiNetherlandsNW. Balkan Pen.PortugalRomaniaSiciliaSpainSwitzerlandTürkiye-in-Europe Sardegna
Native distribution of Legousia speculum-veneris, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Corse COR
France FRA
Germany GER
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Kriti KRI
Netherlands NET
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Portugal POR
Romania ROM
Sardegna SAR
Sicilia SIC
Spain SPA
Switzerland SWI
Türkiye-in-Europe TUE
Cyprus CYP ASIA-TEMPERATE
East Aegean Is. EAI
Iran IRN
Iraq IRQ
Lebanon-Syria LBS
Palestine PAL
Saudi Arabia SAU
Türkiye TUR

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 33 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Campanula arvensis Pers.
  • Campanula cordata Vis.
  • Campanula hirta Roem. & Schult.
  • Campanula pulchella Salisb.
  • Campanula speculum-veneris L.
  • Campanula trigona Ehrenb. ex Boiss.
  • Githopsis latifolia Eastw.
  • Legousia arvensis Durande
  • Legousia durandii Delarbre
  • Legousia speculum Fisch. ex A.DC.
  • Legousia speculum-veneris f. calycina (A.DC.) Hayek
  • Legousia speculum-veneris f. polypiflora (Davidov) Hayek
  • Legousia speculum-veneris f. stricta (Griseb.) Hayek
  • Prismatocarpus cordatus (Vis.) Rchb.
  • Prismatocarpus hirtus Ten.
  • Prismatocarpus speculum-veneris (L.) L'Hér.
  • Prismatocarpus speculum-veneris var. hirtus (Ten.) K.Koch
  • Specularia arvensis Friche-Joset & Montandon
  • Specularia cordata (Vis.) Heynh.
  • Specularia hirta Nyman
  • Specularia polypiflora Davidov
  • Specularia speculum-veneris (L.) A.DC.
  • Specularia speculum-veneris f. plena Voss
  • Specularia speculum-veneris f. procumbens Voss

and 9 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.