THE RAMPIONS 91 



The whole plant is rough with hairs, cotton-like 

 hairs being even found on the pale yellow corolla. 

 Unlike the other Alpine Campanulas, this plant is a 

 biennial — that is to say, it takes two years to mature. 

 In the first year, when the seed germinates, only the 

 root and a rosette of leaves close to the ground are 

 formed. From this, in the second year, the stout, 

 leafy flower-stem shoots up, producing in July a dense 

 spike of flowers. Having set its seed, the plant dies. 

 It is not at all an uncommon plant, though much less 

 abundant than the three species of Bell-flower first 

 mentioned. It grows in the pastures, with often a 

 preference for somewhat shady places, near Rosa 

 alpina, Linn., or other shrubs. 



The Rampions. 



The blue flowers of the Rampions, genus Phyteuma 

 (natural order Campanulacese, the Bell-flower family), 

 are conspicuous in the Alpine meadows and pastur- 

 ages in the early summer. They are borne either in 

 long cylindrical spikes or short rounded heads. There 

 are several species, three of which are confined to 

 High Alpine habitats. Of the two British species, 

 the Round-headed Rampion {Phyteuma orbiculare, 

 Linn.) (Plate XX., Fig. 2) is very frequent in the 

 Alpine zone, but the other (P. spicatum, Linn.) does 

 not occur except at lower elevations. 



The flowers of the Rampion are in some respects 

 very like, in others very unlike, those of their near 

 allies, the Bell-flowers. 



