WILD, OR NATIVE FLOWERS. 57 



Harebell — Cainpanida I'otiiiidifolia (Lin.) 



" With drooping Isells of purest blue 

 Thou didst attract my childish view, 



Almost resembling 

 The azure butterflies that flew, 

 Where 'mid the heath thy blossoms grew, 



So lightly trembling. " 



The writer of the above charming lines ha.s also called the Harebell 

 " the Flower of Memory," and truly the sight of these fair flowers, when 

 found in lonely spots in Canada, has carried one back in thought to the 

 wild heathery moors or sylvan lanes of the mother country. 



" I think upon the heathery hills 



I ae hae lo'ed sae dearly ; 

 I think upon the wimpling burn 



That wandered by sae clearly." 



But sylvan wooded lanes, and heathery moorlands are not charac- 

 ters of our Canadian scenery, and if we would find the Harebell, we 

 must look for it on the dry gravelly banks of lakes and rivers, or on rocky 

 islets, for these are its haunts in Canada. 



Although, in colour and shape of the blossom, the Canadian flower 

 resembles the British one, and is considered by botanists to be the same 

 species ; it is less fragile, the flower stems being stouter, and the foot 

 stalk or pedicel stiffer and less pendulous ; the root leaves, which are not 

 very conspicuous during its flowering season, are round, heart-shaped. 

 Those of the flower-stem are numerous, narrow, and pointed. This 

 pretty flower is variable in colour and foliage. Its general flowering 

 season is July and August. 



The corolla is bell-shaped or campanulate, five cleft ; calyx lobes, 

 awl shaped, persistent on the seed vessel ; stamens five ; style one ; 

 stigmas two ; seed vessel several celled and many seeded ; in height 

 the plant varies from a few inches to a foot ; number of flowers varying 

 from a few to many. 



We have three common species in Canada, the present one ; 

 Campanula Amer/<:ana, {'L[n.)a.\a.rge, handsome species, found in Western 

 Canada; and C. aparinoides, (Pursh) the Rough-leaved Bellflower which 

 is found in thickets and swamps, it is of a climbing or rather clinging 

 habit, the weak slender stem, many branched, laying hold of the grasses 

 and low shrubs that surround it, for support, which its rough teeth enable 

 it to do very effectually : in habit it resembles the smaller Galium, or 

 Lady's Bed-straw. The graceful bell-shaped flowers are of a delicate 

 lavender colour. The leaves of this species are narrow-linear, rough 

 with minutely-toothed bristles ; the flowers are few, and fade very 

 quickly. The name Campanula is from campaiia, a bell. 



