224 



BT.UE TO PURPLE 



These bells of brilliant purple-blue are familiar to every 

 traveller in the temperate zone, for from " Bonnie Scotland " 

 to the Pacific Slope the Harebell graces many a hill and dale. 



Poets in every age have sung of this flower, which is the 

 real Bluebell of Scotland, the favourite floral emblem of the 

 *' Land o' cakes and brither Scots," for, as the old song says : 



" Let the proud hidian boast of his jessamine bowers, 

 His pastures of perfume, and rose-coloured dells. 

 While humbly I sing of those wild little flowers, 

 The bluebells of Scotland, the Scottish bluebells." 



The name rotundifolia refers to the roundish heart-shaped 

 basal leaves of the plant, which wither early, while the stem- 

 leaves, which are numerous, narrow, and pointed, remain. A 

 marked characteristic of these flowers is that, although the 

 buds grow erect on their slender stalks, the full-blown blossoms 

 droop or are horizontal in order to protect their pollen from 

 the rain. The name Harebell refers to the hair-like stems of 

 the plant, and the common term Bluebell is usually reserved 

 for the Wild H)-acinth, which is a very different flower, having 

 thick juicy stalks and resembling the garden species. 



The Harebell is extremely hardy and may be found in the 

 crevices of the cliffs, defying the fierce alpine storms or grow- 

 ing on dry wind-swept meadows, or striking its roots into the 

 tiniest patch of soil, so as to gain a foothold on the edge of 

 some terrific precipice, where its delicate bells, so ''darkly, 

 deeply, beautifully blue," bend but never break before the 

 blustering gale. This wonderful vitality of the Campajiula is 

 commemorated by Sir Walter Scott when, describing Ellen 

 in The Lady of tJie Lake, he says : 



'• E'en the light harebell raised its head 

 Elastic from her airy tread." 



