204 CAMPANULACEJE 



intensity of the blue tint. It is sometimes found in gardens, but is less 

 prized there than the most ornamental Bell-flower of the parterre, the 

 pyramidal species, C. pyramiddlis, which our old writers called Steeple-milkie 

 Bell-flower. This grows wild in Southern Europe ; and in other countries, 

 as in ours, its handsome wide-spread blue or white flowers, trained over a 

 hoop or spreading frame, may often be seen in the window, either of mansion 

 or cottage. It is much used in Holland to place before the fireplace in 

 summer. 



It has been noted that the three species last mentioned have different 

 habits as to flowering : in G. rapimculoides, the lowest bud opens first ; in 

 C. trachelium, the uppermost is the first to expand; whilst in 0. glomerata, 

 the central one of the cluster claims precedence. 



* * Corolla hell-shaped ; capsule somewhat globose. 



9. Ivy-leaved Bell-flower (C hederdcea). — Stem weak, thread-like; 

 leaves all stalked, roundish, heart-shaped, angular, and toothed; flowers 

 solitary, on long stalks; perennial This pretty little plant would be 

 known at a glance from any other wild flower, by its bright green ivy-shaped 

 leaves, and in its season of blossom, by its tiny blue bells. A very lovely 

 little plant it is ; and it is not an unfrequent one in the south and west of 

 England, growing beside the bog asphodel and the graceful bog pimpernel, 

 and others of the lovely flowers which peep up from among the large mosses 

 to which the streamlet brings a perpetual emei'ald greenness. It is abundant 

 in Cornwall ; and from July to September large masses of the plant may be 

 found upon the moorlands, with their blue bells scattered by thousands among 

 the delicate leaves which lie on the slender branches. The flower-stalks are 

 hardly thicker than a sewing-thread ; every breath of wind stirs the bells to 

 motion, and they would be too small to furnish a canopy to a house-fly. The 

 plant is usually about five or six inches in height, but when growing beside 

 some rush or nodding hair-grass, it avails itself of the aid of its stouter 

 neighbour, and climbs up to the height of twelve inches or more. Grerarde, 

 who calls it the Tender Bell-flower, says it was first seen in this kingdom by 

 Master Ueorge Bowles, who in 1632 found it on the dry banks of Montgomery- 

 shire, for a long distance on the highway, though such a situation would 

 certainly be a very unusual one for this plant. It is most abundant in North 

 Wales in damp places. Some authors separate this species from Campanula 

 and call it Waldenhergia hederacea, because it differs from the other species 

 in its method of dispersing its seeds. As was explained under the Harebell, 

 the capsule splits below the calyx, but in the Ivy-leaved Bell-flower the seed- 

 vessel opens at the top, inside the calyx. 



* * * Corolla nearly wheel-shaped ; capsule linear oblong, opening by lateral pores 

 between the segments of the calyx. 



10. Corn Bell-flower (C. hybrida). — Stem either simple or branched 

 from the base ; leaves oblong, waved, with rounded notches ; corolla widely 

 spreading, shorter than the calyx-segments ; capsule triangular ; annual. 

 This is a small plant, less like a Bell-flower than any of the other species, as 

 its corolla spreads quite out, so as to be almost flat. The stem is from four 



