102 THE HEATH. 



effect, is equally secure. The very grass here 

 appears to wear a different character from that 

 under which it appears in the meadows, being 

 tufted and bristly, instead of having long wide 

 leaves. The few flowering plants beside these 

 seem afraid to rise far from the ground, lest they 

 should be injured by the driving wind. They 



mostly seek shelter be- 

 hind bushes and rocks, 

 and only in such situ- 

 ations attain anything 

 like luxuriance. If any 

 overtop the heath and 

 furze, you will find that 

 they are well prepared 

 to stand exposure to 

 the weather. These tall 

 grasses, for instance, 

 will bend to the blast, 

 but will not break. So 

 elastic are their stems, 

 that the tops of them 

 may be bent till they 

 touch the ground, and 

 immediately that they 

 are released they will 

 recover their erect posi- 

 tion. The Harebell, 

 or round-leaved Campa- 

 nula,* frequently over- 

 tops the heath and furze 



* Campanula rotundifolia. This seems a strange name to 

 give to a plant, the leaves of which are nearly all long and 

 narrow ; it is, however, quite appropriate, for in the spring all 

 the root-leaves are round, but very soon wither. Linnaeus, it 



HAREBELL. 



