BLUEBELL FAMILY 



CAMPANULACEAE 



VENUS' LOOKING GLASS 



Specularia perfoliata (L.) A. DC. 



This is a small flower that grows mostly in dry open places 

 from Maine to British Columbia and south to Florida and 

 Mexico. It also occurs in some of the islands of the West Indies. 



It is an annual plant with a slender, 

 rather weak stem 6-24 inches high, more or 

 less hairy and densely leafy. It is usually 

 simple but sometimes branches near the 

 base. Leaves are 6-24 inches long and one- 

 quarter inch to I inch wide, and round 

 toothed or sometimes entire. The upper 

 are strongly clasping about the stem but 

 the lower may be merely sessile. 



The flowers, which may be produced 

 any time between May and September, are 

 1-3 sessile in the axils of the leaves. Early 

 flowers are produced in the lower axils and 

 have a 3 or 4-lobed calyx and a shorter, 

 rudimentary corolla, but are dwarfed and 

 do not open. Later flowers are borne higher 

 on the stem and have a 4 or 5-lobed calyx 

 and a beautiful blue or violet wheel-shaped 

 corolla nearly i inch broad. There are 5 

 stamens with flat, membranous, hairy 

 filaments that are shorter than the anthers. 

 The 3-celled ovary is below the other floral 

 parts and there is i style with 3 stigmas. 

 The capsule is oblong or narrowly top shaped 

 and it finally opens at about the middle by 

 3 little valves. The many small seeds have 

 the shape of a double convex lens. 



And Sunday flowers were here as well — 

 Adam and Eve within their hood, 



The stately Canterbury bell. 

 And, oft in churches breathing fragrance, 



The sweet and pungent southernwood. 



A Puritan Lady's Garden — Sarah N. Cleghorn 



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