CAMPANULA SPECULUM. 
VENUS’S LOOKING-GLASS. 
Class. Order. 
PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
CAMPANULACE2E. 
Native of 
Height. 
Flowers in 
Duration. 
Cultivated 
S. Europe. 
6 inches. 
May, July. 
Annual. 
in 1596. 
No. 147. 
Campanula, from the Latin, a little bell. Specu- 
lum is retained as a trivial name in the Linnean ar- 
rangement, in consequence of the plant having been 
formerly called Speculum veneris, after the Dutch 
“ Vrowen spiegal the translation of which, Venus’s 
Looking-glass, we still retain. Some have supposed 
that the Dutch adopted this appellation from the 
shining surface of its seeds. 
It has been the custom of most botanists, where 
a trivial name has been adopted, which was formerly 
a principal one for the same plant, to distinguish 
such word by a capital letter, and none other of the 
trivial names. On the one hand, this practice must 
be unimportant, because those to whom it can be ad- 
vantageous will possess works which shew the whole 
of the useful synonyms. And, on the other, contrary 
to the common rules of writing, proper names are 
commenced with a small letter. We have, therefore, 
not adhered to the usage. 
As the Campanula speculum withstands the seve- 
verity of our winters, it is a valuable annual to sow 
in the autumn, which induces an early bloom, when 
its flowers are the more desirable. 
Hort. Kew. 2, v. 1, 352. 
