198 CAMPANULACE.E 



that C. pdfula was common in WavAvickshire. As her ladyship was at that 

 time only commencing the study of Botany, Mr. Curtis seemed unwilling to 

 credit the statement, and concluded that some other more common species 

 had been mistaken for the one in question, assuring her at the same time 

 that G. pdtula was one of our rarest English plants." This plant is in flower 

 from July to September, and its stem is about two feet high. 



2. Rampion (C rapuncuhts). — Stem somewhat angular, rough ; leaves 

 with rounded notches at the margin, those of the root oblong, inversely egg- 

 shaped and stalked, upper ones slender and lanceolate ; panicle of flowers 

 erect; perennial. This species, which is not common, occurs on some 

 gravelly soils in several of the midland counties, as well as in Kent and 

 Surrey, and a few spots as far north as Fife. It is a straight tall plant, its 

 stem two or three feet in height, with clustered panicles of rather small 

 flowers, not spreading, but truly bell-shaped, and of a pale blue colour, and 

 the calyx consisting of five awl-shaped segments. It is doubtful if this is 

 truly wild, for it Avas much cultivated in this country in former times, and 

 was probably introduced from the south of Europe, in most of the countries 

 of which, as well as in Barbary, it grows wild and in abundance. Its root is 

 white and thick, something like a little turnip, but more tapering ; hence its 

 name from Bapa, a radish, while the French call the plant Raiponce ; the 

 Germans, Bapunzel ; and the Italians, Raperonzola. The root, which was 

 formerly prized as an edible vegetable throughout Europe, was largely culti- 

 vated in the kitchen-gardens of this country, and called Ramp. Michael 

 Drayton describes it as " the Rampion rare," and several old writers mention 

 it as a valuable vegetable. It is still cultivated to some extent as an esculent 

 in France and Italy, but in this country it is now only to be seen in the 

 garden of the curious, or in wild spots where it has become naturalized. 

 The roots were either boiled and eaten with sauce, or sliced and prepared 

 with vinegar and pepper as a salad. An Arabian species, C. edulis, has also 

 a thick sapid root, containing an abundance of starch, and is much eaten. 



3. Peach-leaved Bell-flower (C. persicifulia). — Stem smooth, rounded, 

 and few-flowered ; root-leaves inversely egg-shaped, narrowed into a leaf- 

 stalk, and with rounded marginal notches ; stem-leaves slender, lanceolate, 

 and sessile, with very narrow serratures ; calyx segments entire ; 

 perennial. This is a very doubtful native, found in woods near Banff in 

 Scotland, and in Yorkshire, bearing in July its large open blue flowers, which 

 spread so much as scarcely to remind one of a bell. The flowers of the plant 

 are in the wild state often solitary, but when cultivated in our gardens they 

 sometimes crowd together at the upper part of the stem. It is by the 

 gardeners called Paper Bell-flower, from the stiff though delicate texture of 

 the blossoms, which ai"e often double, and form azure or snowy rosettes. It 

 is among the oldest ornaments of our parterre. Gerarde says of it in 1597, 

 "It is planted in our gardens, but does not grow wild in England." The 

 French call it Campanule des jardins, and Campanule a feuilles de pecher. 



4. Round-leaved Bell-flower (C. rotundifdlia). — Stem smooth ; root- 

 leaves heart-shaped or kidney-shaped, shorter than their stalks ; stem-leaves 

 slender, the lower ones lanceolate ; calyx segments awl-shaped ; perennial. 

 This plant, the Harebell of the poets, is by modern botanists restored to the 



