128 ALPINE PLANTS 
some shade of blue or purple, with albino or white forms, 
constitutes the colour range, but to say that alone might 
convey an impression that the family suffers somewhat 
from narrowly limited variety, and such an impression 
would be extraordinarily erroneous and unjust, for the 
diversity of form, size, habit and capabilities of the 
Campanulas can be equalled by extremely few genera 
among the whole range of plants available for cultivation 
in British gardens. A volume might well be written upon 
Campanulas, and a garden of considerable dimensions 
could be filled with beauty and never-failing interest 
with Campanulas alone, a collection of which might contain 
wellnigh 150 different species and their varieties, and 
their number grows with every succeeding year. Not 
all of these, however, are suitable for inclusion in a collection 
of alpines, some being tall stately plants for the herbaceous 
border ; but of dwarf, comparatively small, types and forms, 
particularly suited to the rock garden or the alpine house, 
we have something like half a hundred, some of which 
are deserving of places of honour in the most select 
collections. Normally “‘ bell’’ flowers, the size and shape 
of the flowers varies from tiny nodding blossoms that 
might be termed “ fairies’ thimbles,”’ to big pendant 
bells that seem almost too large for the stems to support. 
There are also kinds that turn their blossoms upward, 
cup-like, and some are flattened like saucers, or divided 
at the edges, making star-like blossoms. The smallest 
snug the soil and raise their flowers on stalks but a couple 
of inches high. Such are C. cenisia, C. excisa, C. pulla 
and C. pusilla, whilst C. rupestris and C. garganica, with 
