CAMPANULACE^. 13 



Var 3, montana. 



Lower stem - leaves elliptical - oblanceolate. Flowers usually- 

 solitary. 



On heaths and pastures, &c. Very common, and generally 

 distributed. Var. 3 on mountains. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Late Summer 



and Autumn. 



Stem 6 inches to 2 feet high, leafy below, very sparingly so in 

 the upper half. Corolla f to 1 inch long, pale-blue, slightly inclining 

 to purple. Plant dark-green, nearly glabrous. Var. 3, in its extreme 

 states, appears very different, but is connected with the typical plant 

 by insensible gradation. 



Hare-bell, 



French, Campanula d, Feuilles Radicales Rondes. German, Rundbldttrige Glockenhlume. 



Our very poetical English name for this pretty flower induces us to seek for some- 

 thing more attractive than the names we have just given for it in French and German. 

 We find that in France it is also called Clochette, and in Germany Weisen Busch, or 

 Milch Glocken. 



No wild flower is more admired, or has had its praises sung by poets more fre- 

 quently, than this pi'etty delicate little inhabitant of every sunny bank and heath of 

 our country districts. Every village child loves its tiny bells, and numerous are the 

 fancies associated with them. A common rustic name for them is " witches' thimbles," 

 and it is certain that, like all enchantments, it will not bear the test of civilization, 

 but droops and withers if removed from its native heath. Agriculturists tell us that 

 the presence of the Hare-bell is indicative of very poor soil ; yet how lovely are its 

 tiny cups waving to and fro on their cobweb stems with every breath of wind, so that 

 one might almost believe in the reality of the silver music said to come from them 

 in days of yore, when the good fairies 



" Rang th'eir wildering chimes to vagrant butterflies." 



This species we believe to be the true Hare-bell of Scotland. It is 



" The hare-bell that, for her stainless azure blue, 

 Claims to be worn of none but those are true." 



And it is the same which, in the " Lady of the Lake," beneath the fairy footsteps of 

 Ellen Douglas, 



" raised its head 

 Elastic from her airy tread." 



" For me she stoop'd, and looking round, 

 Pluck'd a blue hare-bell from the ground. 

 This little flowex-, that loves the lea, 

 May well my simple emblem be." 



