318 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



shady river banks, where its tall, leafy, erect 

 stem with its pendent rows of large pale 

 liliac or white bell-like flowers, form a fit- 

 ting peer or rival to the stately foxglove — 

 the grande dame of British wildflowers. But 

 the best known and ' best beloved is the 

 singularly graceful and charming little hare- 

 bell, emblem of constancy and sweet retire- 

 ment. It is all but universal in its distribu- 

 tion, for it may be found braving the blast 

 on every exposed moor ; clinging to the 

 crevices of precipitious cliffs ; crowning the 

 wall-tops of crumbling ruins ; springing 

 from the sand and shingle of the dried up 

 bed of the mountain streamlet ; or cheering 

 the traveller by its dancing motion on the 

 dusty wayside bank. No soil is too poor to 

 afford it sustenance, but it is essentially 

 dry-loving, and is very impatient of stagnant 

 water at its roots, hence it is not easy of 

 cultivation, except on well-drained rock- 

 work. 



So familiar a plant needs no lengthened 

 description, so I shall simply direct attention 

 to one or two details of structure, liable to 

 be overlooked. Most people will readily 

 admit the appropriateness of the generic 

 name Campanula — a little bell — as applied 

 to the handsome showy flowers of this 

 genus, including as it does the well-known 

 garden Canterbury Bells. But the specific 

 name rotundifolia — round leaved — does not 

 seem so apt, especially to one who has only 

 noticed the plant whilst in flower, or grow- 

 ing amongst grass, for then the narrow 

 linear stem leaves are the most obvious, and 

 the long-stalked round root leaves are easily 

 overlooked. It is said that Linnaeus, who 

 was the first to distinguish plants by two 

 names, had his attention first directed to 

 this humble little plant, by seeing its green 

 rosette of round leaves in spring, peeping 

 forth between the chinks of the paving 

 stones in the courtyard of Upsal University, 

 in Sweden, and that he then happily chris- 

 tened it "the round-leaved bell flower." 



The same diversity betwixt the root and 

 stem leaves may be noticed in many other 

 plants ; and it is of importance in gathering 

 plants for the herbarium, to procure both 

 classes of leaves in order to secure a charac- 

 teristic specimen. 



The peculiarly slender and wiry stems 

 are remarkably tough and elastic, they bend 

 readily to the blast and are rarely to be 

 seen broken. The terminal flower expands 

 first, but although its delicate blue colour 

 is so pleasing to the eye, it does not dry 

 well for the herbarium, as the colour soon 

 fades and the blossoms become white. The 

 corolla so beautifully moulded in shape is 

 marcesent, that is it withers without falling 

 off, and its shrivelled remains may be seen 

 adhering to the ripe fruit. By examining a 

 flowerbud just before it expands, the five 

 long anthers may be seen closely investing 

 and overtopping the style, but by the time 

 the corolla has fully opened they will be 

 found to have shed their pollen, and curled 

 up in a curiously spiral manner, and they 

 soon disappear altogether. The style is 

 surrounded by a fringe of hairs, to which 

 the pollen may be seen adhering, giving it a 

 club-shaped appearance. It continues to 

 grow till it is twice its former length, and 

 equal to the fully developed bell of the 

 corolla, when it unrolls its three-lobed 

 stigma and is then only in a receptive 

 state to be fertilised by the pollen grains. 

 It is obvious that the stigma must be largely 

 if not solely dependent, for its impregnation 

 upon the pollen produced by the more 

 recently opened flower. Its conveyance is 

 readily accomplished by the visits of bees 

 and moths who are attracted by the showy 

 flowers and by the nectar secreted at the 

 base of the style, and which is curiously 

 concealed by the flattened filaments of the 

 stamens. The drooping bells are much 

 frequented by the lesser insects, to whom its 

 spacious canopy must prove a gorgeous 

 palace admirably fitted to supply their wants, 



