From Blue to Purple 



a plant of rank, rigid habit. Its erect, rather stout stem, set wid» 

 elongated oval, hairy, alternate leaves, and crowned with a one- 

 sided raceme of widely expanded, purple-blue bells rising about 

 two feet above the ground, has little of the exquisite grace of its 

 cousin. It blooms from July to September. This is the species 

 whose roots are eaten by the omnivorous European peasant. 



One of the few native campanulas, the Tall Bellflower (C. 

 Americana), waves long, slender wands studded with blue or 

 sometimes whitish flowers high above the ground of moist 

 thickets and woods throughout the eastern half of this country, 

 but rarely near the sea. Doubtless the salt air, which intensifies 

 the color of so many flowers, would brighten its rather slatey blue. 

 The corolla, which is flat, round, about an inch across, and deeply 

 cleft into five pointed petals, has the effect of a miniature pinwheel 

 in motion. Mature flowers have the style elongated, bent down- 

 ward, then curved upward, that the stigmas may certainly be in 

 the way of the visiting insect pollen-laden from an earlier 

 bloomer, and be cross-fertilized. The larger bees, its benefactors, 

 which visit it for nectar, touch only the upper side of the style, 

 on which they must alight ; but the anthers waste pollen by 

 shedding it on all sides. No insect can take shelter from rain or 

 pass the night in this flower, as he frequently does in its more 

 hospitable relative, the harebell. English gardeners, more appre- 

 ciative than our own of our native flora, frequently utilize this 

 charming plant in their rockwork, increasing their stock by a 

 division of the dense, leafy rosettes. 



Venus' Looking-glass; Clasping Bellflower 



{Legou^ta perfoliata) Bellflower family 

 {Specularia perfoliata of Gray) 



Flowers — Violet blue, from J^ to % in. across ; solitary or 2 or 3 

 together, seated, in axils of upper leaves. Calyx lobes vary- 

 ing from 3 to 5 in earlier and later flowers, acute, rigid; 

 corolla a 5-spoked wheel ; 5 stamens ; i pistil with 3 stig- 

 mas. Stem : 6 in. to 2 ft. long, hairy, densely leafy, slender, 

 weak. Leaves: Round, clasped about stem by heart-shaped 

 base. 



Preferred Habitat — Sterile waste places, dry woods. 



Flowering Season — May — September. 



Distribution — From British Columbia, Oregon, and Mexico, east to 

 Atlantic Ocean. 



At the top of a gradually lengthened and apparently over- 

 burdened leafy stalk, weakly leaning upon surrounding vegeta* 



66 



