296 CAMPANULA. 1 CLASS V. OllDEB I. 



The whole plant varies more or less in hairiness, by which distinction 

 several varieties are mentioned by Continental Botanists, with whom 

 it is much more frequent than with us. It is readily distinguished 

 from C. rotundifolia, by its more branched erect panicle, its larger more 

 spreading not drooping flowers, and its broader crenated leaves. The 

 whole plant, too, is taller, stouter, and more robust. It, like most other 

 of the genus, contains an acrid milky juice, but not so much as to 

 render it disagreeable to cattle. 



3. C. Rapun'culus, Linn. (Fig. 369.) Rampion Bell-Jlower. Stem 

 somewhat angular, rough below ; leaves crenate, roughish; those of 

 the root ovate, oblong, petiolated, upper ones narrower, sessile, 

 lanceolate; panicle erect, racemose ; segments of the calyx subulate, 

 simple. 



English Botany, t. 283.— English Flora, vol. i. p. 291.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 116. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 136. 



Root fleshy, tapering, white, and milky. Stem erect, from two to 

 three feet high, somewhat angular, simple, or sometimes branched, 

 smooth or hairy, especially below, leafy. Leaves smooth, or sometimes 

 hairy, rather paler below than above, the margins crenated, those of the 

 root ovate, oblong, tapering into a footstalk of variable length, the 

 upper narrower, linear, lanceolate, and seshile. Inflorescence a ter- 

 minal, erect, simple, or slightly branched, racemose, panicle of 

 numerous spreading more truly campanulate flowers, of a fine blue 

 colour; the flower stalks and stem round, quite smooth, as are the small 

 lanceolate bractea. Calyx of rather long, narrow, erect, spreading or 

 reflexed, awl-shaped segments, the margins without teeth. Corolla 

 larger than in the last species, of a fine bluish, purple colour. Stamens 

 not half as long as the corolla. Filaments dilated at the base into a 

 valve, closing over the tube of the corolla, hairy, especially on the 

 margins. Style half as long again as the stamens, downy above. 

 Stigma three-cleft, spreading, or rolled back. Capsule oblong, with 

 five prominent angles, and five small alternate ones, smooth, or some- 

 times slightly downy, opening near the top with the small oval open- 

 ings. Seeds small, oval, numerous. 



Habitat. — A gravelly soil, in the southern and midland counties; 

 not very common. 



Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 



The roots of this plant have a sweet, somewhat pungent taste, which 

 in a great measure it looses by cultivation. Formerly this plant was 

 much grown in England as a culinary vegetable, and was known by 

 the name of Ramps ; it is now, however, almost or entirely neglected ; 

 but on the continent it is much used, and especially in Italy, 

 where in the mountainous districts it grows abundantly, and is col- 

 lected and brought to market by the peasantry, with whom it forms a 



