CAMPANULACE.E. 443 



oily albumen. Non-lactescent herbs or undershrubs, with alternate, 

 scattered, or somewhat verticillate, entire, exstipulate leaves. They 

 are well distinguished by their gynandrous structure. The column 

 formed by the union of the filaments and style, possesses, in the species 

 of the genus Stylidium, a peculiar irritability. It hangs down on one 

 side of the flower, and when touched at the point of flexure, it springs 

 over with considerable force from one side to the other. If not too 

 far advanced to maturity, the column will recover its former position 

 in the course of time. The flower may be cut off carefully without 

 disturbing the column, and the irritability continues for a consider- 

 able length of time if the flower is put into water. The movement 

 is said to be connected with the bursting of the anthers, and the dis- 

 charge of the pollen on the stigma. The cause of this movement is 

 very obscure, but it seems to depend on some changes in the cells 

 (1T 497, 665). The plants are principally natives of marshy places in 

 New Holland. Some are found at the southern point of South 

 America. There are 5 known genera, and 121 species. Examples 

 Stylidium, Forstera. 



922. Order 110. Campanniaceie, the Hare-bell Family. (Monopet. 

 Epigyn.) (Fig. 635.) Calyx superior, usually 5-lobed (figs. 636, 637 c), 

 sometimes 3-8-lobed, persistent. Corolla gamopetalous, inserted into 

 the top of the calyx, usually 5-lobed (fig. 255), sometimes 3-8-lobed, 

 regular, marcescent (fig. 461 e); aestivation valvate (figs. 636, 637 p). 

 Stamens inserted into the calyx, alternating with the corolline lobes, and 

 equal to them in number; anthers bilocular, free (fig. 637 e); pollen 

 spherical. Ovary more or less completely inferior, composed of two or 

 more carpels; ovules indefinite (fig. 638); style simple, covered with 

 collecting hairs (fig. 637); stigma naked, simple, or with as many 

 lobes as there are ovarian cells (figs. 293 s, 637 s). Fruit capsular, 

 crowned with the withered calyx and corolla, dehiscing in a loculicidal 

 manner by lateral apertures (figs. 461 1 1, 639), or by valves at the 

 apex. Seeds 00, attached to a central placenta; embryo straight, in 

 the axis of fleshy albumen; radicle pointing to the hilum (figs. 640- 

 642). Lactescent herbs or undershrubs, with alternate, rarely oppo- 

 site, exstipulate leaves. The hairs on the style are said to be retractile, 

 and seem to be connected with the application of the pollen (^[ 499). 

 The flowers in most instances belong to the cyanic series. They are 

 natives chiefly of northern and temperate regions. They abound in 

 the alpine regions of Europe and Asia, and are also frequent in North 

 America. Alphonse De Candolle states, that the species whose capsule 

 dehisces by lateral fissures are natives of the northern hemisphere, 

 while those with apicilar dehiscence are principally found in the 

 southern hemisphere. The milky juice found in the plants of this order 

 has acrid properties. The roots and young shoots of Campanula Ea- 

 j Kampion, are used as articles of diet. Lindley enumerates 



