78 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



The harebell is, in botanical parlance, the 

 rolnndifolia. The generic name signifies a little bell, in 

 obvious allusion to the form of the flower, which, as our 

 readers will readily perceive by a glance at our sketch of 

 the plant, is very bell-like in form. The specific name does 

 not so clearly carry its meaning on the face of it. The 

 word means round-leaved, while a second glance at our 

 illustration at once shows us that the leaves are certainly 

 not rounded in form at all, but decidedly long and narrow, 

 much longer and narrower than the great majority of the 

 leaves of our plants ; the name, therefore, at first sight 

 appears almost ludicrously inappropriate. The name, we 

 must confess, does not appear to us a very happy one ; but 

 it has some justification, as the lower leaves of the plant 

 are considerably broader than the upper, and those that 

 spring at the base of the stem might very justly be called 

 round leaves. These are, however, rarely seen, partly 

 because they are generally hidden by the other herbs in 

 the midst of which the plant grows, partly because they 

 wither away long before the rest of the plant ordinarily 

 succumbs to climatic influences and the onward march of 

 the year, and will not, therefore, always be found, even if 

 searched for. The English name was bestowed upon it, we 

 are told, because it grows on the dry and hilly pastures 

 frequented by the hare ; but we would suggest, at least 

 an alternative derivation or, rather, the plant itself sug- 

 gests it as to whether it may not have originally been 

 named hairbell, from the extremely light and delicate 

 stems from which the blossoms hang. Another plant, 

 equally light and delicate, is named the maiden-hair. 



The flowers of the harebell are ordinarily a delicate 

 shade of purplish-blue ; but the colour varies a good deal 



