ORDER CXII.—CAMPANULACEÆ.—THE CAMPANULA TRIBE.
The plants in this order have a bell-shaped regular corolla, consisting of five petals, usually grown together so as to form a monopetalous corolla with five lobes, each lobe having a conspicuous central nerve or vein. There are five or more stamens, which are generally distinct, and which have broad bearded filaments bending over the ovary. The style is at first short, but it gradually elongates itself, and both it and the stigmas are furnished with tufts of stiff hairs, which, as the style pushes itself through the stamens, brush off the pollen, and retain it till the stigma is in a proper state to receive it. The anthers burst as soon as the corolla opens. The capsules have generally two, three, or five cells, and each cell contains many seeds.
In the genus Campanula, the capsule opens by little valves, which look as though cut with scissors. The juice of the plants is milky, but not poisonous. The principal genera are Campanula, Prismatocarpus (Venus’s Looking-glass), Roellia, Phyteuma (the petals of which are distinct), Trachelium, Wahlenbergia, and Adenophora. Lobeliaceæ and Goodenoviaceæ were formerly included in this order.
ORDER CXIII.—GESNERIEÆ.
The corolla is tubular and sub-bilabiate, with a five-cleft limb. There are four stamens, two longer than the others, with the rudiments of a fifth. The anthers generally adhere in pairs; the fruit is one-celled and many-seeded; the leaves are thick and covered with a soft down; and the roots are frequently tuberous. The qualities are excellent. The species of the genus Gesneria are usually hothouse plants, with bright scarlet flowers; and those of Gloxinia have generally purple flowers; and of Sinningia the flowers are greenish.