Hli 1-AMlLIAR (lAJlHEX FLOWEIiS. 



H(.iwer may be C(jmpare(l with the average o£ garden cam- 

 panulas advantageously for jjurposes of instruction. We 

 find no tall stem^ no free, leafy growth, and no drawn-out 

 spike of flowers. The whole thing is, as one may sa)', in 

 a nutshell, for tlie mountain plant cannot afford to make a 

 tall stem and to develop its flowers slowly. Its conditions 

 of life are unfavourable to the development of abundant 

 material ; it must make the very most of a short summer 

 with a pure, str(.>ng light, and many sudden transitions 

 from extreme heat to extreme cold. The sunshine roasts 

 one at midday in many a flowery spot on the Alps and 

 the Pyrenees ; and yet, in the very height of the summer, 

 the night frost is olten keen enough to make the herbage 

 crackle beneath the feet of the late wanderer, as also of 

 the earl}' riser. The Alpine flowers have to live through 

 such extreme conditions ; and if they do not ripen their 

 seeds and scatter them quickly their race must soon come 

 to an end. Therefore they have not time to grow tall 

 and leafy and luxurious ; they hug down close to the 

 ground to escape the keen wind, and concentrated life is 

 of more importance to them than a luxurious display of 

 delicate green garments. 



The turbinate campanula is a native of the Carjiathian 

 mountains and Transylvania, and when transferred to the 

 garden is essentially a rock plant, reciuiring a dry, sunny 

 ])osltion, and a light, deep, well-drained soil. It is at once 

 lieautiful and interesting, the smallness of the leaves and 

 the largeness of the flowers rendering it conspicuous, while 

 1lie line blue-purple colour and bold cuj)-shaped form of 

 the flowers compel attention in detail. It may be grown 

 in (he common bnrdc-r \\-here the conditions are favourable, 

 the soil l)eing sandy and the sitmition open, when it forms 



