The Bell Flower. 133 



hundred, and are very widely diffused over the cold and 

 era te countries of the earth, very few of them being found 

 • tropical regions. Their beauty, and the ease with which 

 thev are cultivated, has made some of the species familiar to 

 verv one. The subject of the plate resembles very greatly 

 the common species, called Canterbury Bell. It is a handsome 

 nlant, bearing flowers of a very fine purple, which are erect 

 when budding, but drooping when fully blown. It is a native 

 of Hungary, and Siberia ; from which two countries, it may 

 be remarked, come several other elegant and much cultivated 



species. 



Its cultivation is by no means difficult in this country. The 

 seeds must be sown as early as the frost will permit, in the 

 place where the plants are to grow ; or if the cultivator has 

 a green house, they should be sown in the winter, and planted 

 out in April or May. The young plants should be well sup- 

 plied with water, and they will grow luxuriantly, producing 

 sometimes fifty flowers from a single root. 



One of the most delicate of all the Campanulas is a native 

 of the Northern and Eastern States. This is C. rotundifolia, 

 known to many as the Harebell, or Bluebell. Its slender stem, 

 delicate linear leaves, flowers of a lovely blue, the grace and 

 sweetness of its whole aspect, make it one of our most inter- 

 esting plants. It grows on rocks, on the sides of hills and 

 mountains, frequently on the very verge of the deepest preci- 

 pice, down which its blue eyes seem to gaze without terror, 

 secure in its own beauty. To one who should gather it while 

 in flower, the specific appellation, rotundifolia, would seem a 

 sad misnomer, its only rounded leaves being the radical ones, 

 which fall off before the blossoms appear. Another handsome 

 species, commonly cultivated, is C. Americana, a native of 

 some of the Middle and Western States. It is a tall, erect, 

 ornamental plant, with blue flowers. 



Of the foreign species, the best known are, perhaps, the pretty 

 C.speculum, orVenus' Looking-glass, the polish of whose corollas, 

 and their form, which is like that of a little, round, concave mir- 

 ror, have given it a name so appropriate ; C. lilifolia, with pale 

 blue flowers ; C.glomerata, with clustered, violet-colored flowers, 

 and C, persicifolia, with large blue flowers. This last species, 



