Harebells 205 
more erect - flowered species is the Nettle - leaved 
Bell-flower (Campanula tracheliwm), a plant three 
or four feet high, that might well be taken for 
a Nettle before the flowers appear. The leaves 
are very similar in size and shape to those of the 
Stinging Nettle, and the bristly stem helps the 
likeness. 
After fertilisation the ovary of the Bell-flowers be- 
comes a seed-capsule more or less shaped hke a whip- 
top, and curiously opening when the seeds are ripe by 
shits or little doors near the stalk or just under the 
calyx-lobes. Those of the Harebell and the Nettle- 
leaved Bell-flower are examples of the first kind, and 
the Spreading Bell-flower (C. patula) is an instance of 
the second kind. 
Most of the Bell-flowers and their allies abound 
in an acrid, milky juice, which serves to protect them 
from many animals. Man, however, has found that 
the acridity may be removed by cooking, so that 
where there is sufficient substance to warrant the 
trouble he has utilised some of the species for food. 
The Rampion (C. rapunculus) has a fleshy root, so 
man has taken it under his care, and cultivated it for 
eating. 
The singular little cornfield weed to which the 
imposing name of Venus’ Looking-glass (Specularia 
hybrida) has been given, is very similar to Campanula 
in essentials, but the corolla is flat, and very small, 
the lobes deeply divided, lilac without and _ blue 
within ; whilst the angular ovary and calyx-tube is 
long and slender, the calyx-lobes being longer than 
those of the corolla. It has probably become more or 
less self-fertile, and therefore does not need to produce 
