304 PRISMATOCARPUS. [CLASS v. ORDER i. 



GENUS XXXIII. PRISMATO'CARPUS.-L'HERiTiER. 



Corn "Bell-flower . 

 Nat. Ord. CAMPANDLACE'.*:. Jess. 



GEN. CHAR. Calyx five-cleft. Corolla wheel-shaped, with a flat 

 limb. Capsule oblong, prismatic, two or three celled, opening 

 near the top. Name from the shape of the capsule. 



1. P. hy'bridus, L'Heritier, (Fig. 376.) Corn Bell-flower. Stem 

 erect, simple, or branched; leaves oblong, waved, and crenated ; flowers 

 solitary; corolla spreading, shorter than the lanceolate segments of the 

 calyx. 



Lindley, Synopsis, p. 135. Campanula hybrida. Linn. English 

 Botany, t. 375. English Flora, vol. i. p. 294. Hooker, British Flora, 

 vol. i. p. 118. 



Hoot tapering, with long slender branched fibres. Stem erect, from 

 six to twelve inches high, angular and rough, with short rigid hairs, 

 simple, or more or less branched, especially from the base, which are 

 frequently long, spreading, ascending towards the extremity, leafy. 

 Leaves alternate, sessile, the margins waved, and somewhat crenated, 

 rough, especially near the margin, with short rigid hairs, the lower 

 ones obovate, the upper oblong. Flowers terminal, solitary, or some- 

 times three or four terminate the stem and lateral branches. Calyx of 

 five narrow lanceolate spreading rough segments. Corolla wheel - 

 shaped, much shorter than the calyx, of five ovate spreading segments, 

 of a deep blue, paler outside and within at the base. Stamens five, 

 with slender filaments, not dilated at the base, smooth. Anthers 

 oblong, pale yellow. Pistil shorter than the corolla. Style slender, 

 and with the two or three cleft. Stigma somewhat hairy. Capsule 

 oblong, triangular, rough, with minute points, formed of three obtusely 

 angular columns, crowned by the persistent calyx, and opening near 

 the top with oblong valves, which separate beneath, and : curl upwards. 

 Seeds numerous, pale, shining, brown, ovate, attached by the extremity 

 to the central placenta. 



Habitat. Corn fields, on a chalky or clay soil; not very common, 

 and chiefly in the middle and southern parts of England. 



Annual ; flowering in July and August. 



This species is nearly allied to the P. Speculum, or Ventts's Looking- 

 glass, a plant very common on the continent, though not found with 

 us. It has linear calyx segments, shorter than the ovate acute seg- 

 ments of the corolla, more hairy, and mostly a larger stouter plant. 



The capsule of this genus is remarkable, it is formed of three cylin- 



