Campanula Speculum. Venus's Looking-Glass.

Class and Order:

Pentandria Monogynia.

Generic Character:

Corolla campanulata, fundo clauso valvis staminiferis. Stigma trifidum. Capsula infera, poris lateralibus dehiscens.

Specific Character and Synonyms:

CAMPANULA Speculum caule ramosissimo, diffuso; foliis oblongis subcrenatis, floribus solitariis, capsulis prismaticis. Linn. Syst. Vegetab. p. 209.

ONOBRYCHIS arvensis f. Campanula arvensis erecta. Bauh. Pin. 215.

Grows wild among the corn in the South of Europe, is an annual, and, like the Sweet Alyssum, generally cultivated in our gardens, and most deservedly so indeed, for when a large assemblage of its blossoms are expanded by the rays of the sun, their brilliancy is such as almost to dazzle the eyes of the beholder.

Those annuals which bear our winter's frosts without injury, are advantageously sown in the autumn; for by that means they flower more early, and their seeds ripen with more certainty; the present plant is one of those: it usually sows itself, and is therefore raised without any trouble.

It begins to flower in May and June, and continues to enliven the garden till August or September.