Campanula (/kæmˈpænjʊlə/) is one of several genera of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae commonly known as bellflowers. They take both their common and scientific names from the bell-shaped flowers — campanula is Latin for "little bell". The genus includes over 500 species and several subspecies, distributed across the temperate and subtropical regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest diversity in the Mediterranean region east to the Caucasus. The range also extends into mountains in tropical regions of Asia and Africa.