102 SUMMER FLOWERS. 



closely imbricated bracts, and surrounding a thick receptacle 

 bearing bristles between the florets ; these bracts have a stiflf 

 narrow-lanceolate appendage, ending in a spreading or re- 

 flexed prickle. The florets are crimson, all equal, with a long 

 slender tube, and five erect narrow divisions. The fruits, called 

 achenes, are glabrous, with a pappus of simple hairs longer 

 than the achene itself. The plant is found commonly in waste 

 places in many parts of Britain, most frequently in the south. 

 In another subdivision of epigynous Monopetals, the sta- 

 mens are inserted on the calyx, free from the corolla. This 

 is the case in the Harebell Campanula,"^ a beautiful little wild- 

 flower found in hilly pastures and heathy wastes, and extend- 

 ing in its range from the Mediterranean to the Arctic Circle. 

 The plant is a dwarf perennial herb, with a slender creeping 

 rootstock. At the base of its stems, which vary fj*om six to 

 eighteen inches in height, the leaves are long-stalked, round- 

 ish or heart-shaped, and sparingly toothed ; those higher up the 

 stem are lance-shaped or linear and entire. The stems are 

 variously branched, according to their luxuriance, forming usu- 

 ally a loose raceme or panicle of elegant drooping blue flowers : 

 " little bells of faint and tender blue, which gracefully, bend 

 their small heads in every breeze." Sir Walter Scott de- 

 scribes the elastic tread of his fair ^Hady of the lake" as 

 not even disturbing the position of the slender Harebell : — 



" A foot more light, a step more true, 

 Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew ; 

 E'en the slight Harebell raised its head 

 Elastic from her airy tread." 



These flowers consist of a calyx adherent to the ovary, and 

 having five narrow spreading lobes ; a regular bell-shaped five- 

 lobed corolla, inserted within the lobes of the calyx; five 



* Campanula rotimdifoUa — Plate 15 B. 



