190 
BRITISH WILD FLOWERS. 
THE SPIKED RAMPION. (P. spicatdm, Lin.) 
This is a plant of no beauty, with a twisted stem three or four feet high, and a thick fleshy root, which 
was formerly sliced and eaten in salads, as beet-root is now. The plant is only found in Sussex. 
GENUS II. 
THE CORN BELL-FLOWER. (Prismatocarpus, L’ Heritier.) 
Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character.— Corolla rotate,'with a flat limb. Capsule prismatical, two or three-celled, dehiscing towards the top. ( Dec .) 
Description, &c. —The only British species in this new genus is a little weed, very common in corn fields, 
with extremely small purplish-lilac flowers, which do not possess the slightest beauty; though Sir J. E. Smith 
supposes the plant to be a variety of the beautiful garden flower so well known under the name of Venus’s 
Looking-glass. The present species is an annual, which is only found in chalky soils in the south of England. 
The name of Prismatocarpus signifies prism-shaped fruit; in allusion to the shape of the seed-vessel. 
GENUS III. 
THE CAMPANULA, OR BELL-FLOWER. (Campanula, Lin.) 
Lin. Syst. PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 
Generic Character. —Calyx five-cleft, sometimes with the recesses | ments broadest at the base. Stigma four or five-parted. Capsule three 
reflexed. Corolla campanulate, five-cleft. Stamens five, with the fila- | or five-celled, opening by perforations towards the base. {Lindley.) 
Description, &c. —The genus Campanula is composed of perennial plants, with milky juice, and very 
ornamental flowers. The genus was formerly much more extensive than it is now; the Prismatocarpus having 
been removed from it, on account of some difference in the shape of the capsule. The British Campanulas are 
most of them very ornamental, and many of them are cultivated in gardens. The name of Campanula signifies 
a little bell ; in allusion to the bell-like shape of the flowers. 
1.—THE HARE-BELL. (Campanula rotundifolia, Lin.) 
Engravings. —Eng. Bot., t. 866 ; 2nd ed., t. 296. 
Specific Character. —Radical leaves heart or kidney-shaped, serrated; stem-leaves linear, entire. {Smith.) 
Description, &c. —This is one of the commonest British flowers, and yet it is one of the most beautiful, as 
nothing can surpass the clear lovely blue of the flowers, which tremble so lightly upon their slender stalks. 
“ The Hare-bell, bright and blue, 
That decks the dingle wild, 
In whose cerulean hue, 
Heaven’s own blest tint we view 
On days serene and mild. 
How beauteous, like an azure gem, 
She droopeth from her graceful stem.”—Miss Strickland. 
On the Scottish heaths this plant is so conspicuous, that the Blue-bell of Scotland is one of its most popular 
names. Its other popular name, Hare-bell, is said to have been originally Air-bell; in allusion to its delicate 
transparent blue, which so closely resembles the beautiful blue of the sky. Some writers have supposed that the 
