Phyteuma orbicucire Round headed Rampion 4 FR Del. Pubby WBaxter, Botanic Garden Oxford 1886 C.Mathews.Sc. PHYTEU MA*. P. Linnean Class and Order. PENTA'NDRIA †, MONOGY'NIA. Natural Order. CAMPANULA'CEÆ, Juss. Gen. Pl. p. 163.-Sm. Gram. of Bot. p. 117.-Lindl. Syn. p. 135.; Introd. to Nat. Syst. of Bot. p. 185.-Rich. by Macgilliv. p. 453.-Loud. Hort. Brit. 522.-Don's Gen. Syst. of Gard. and Bot. V. iii. p. 731.-CAMPANA'CEE, Linn.-SYRINGALES; subord. ERICOSE; sect. CAMPANULINE; type, CAMPANULACEA; subtype, CAMPANULIDE, Burn. Outl. of Bot. v. ii. pp. 900, 937, 938, 941, & 942. GEN. CHAR. Calyx (see fig. 1.) superior, of 1 sepal, in 5 deep, rather spreading, permanent segments. Corolla (see fig. 3.) of 1 petal, wheel-shaped, with a very short tube, and 5 long, strapshaped, recurved segments (see fig. 3, b. and fig. 4). Filaments (see figs. 5 & 6.) 5, thread-shaped, dilated at the base (see fig. 6.), scarcely attached to the corolla, and shorter than its segments, with which they are alternate. Anthers oblong, free; pollen violaceous or reddish. Germen inferior, angular. Style (see figs. 3 & 5) cylindrical, curved, longer than the stamens. Stigma in 2 or 3 spreading segments. Capsule (figs. 8 & 9.) roundish, of 2 or 3 cells, with strong ribs; opening laterally by 2 or 3 valves at the base or middle part. Seeds (figs. 10 & 11.) numerous, small, roundish, sometimes a little compressed, usually shining. Distinguished from other genera, in the same class and order, by the wheel-shaped corolla, with 5 long strap-shaped segments; the 2- or 3-parted stigma; and the 2- or 3-celled capsule, opening at the sides. Two species British. PHYTEU'MA ORBICULA'RE. Round-headed Rampion. Horned Rampion. SPEC. CHAR. Head of flowers roundish. Radical leaves petiolate, somewhat heart-shaped, or elliptic-spear-shaped, crenated. Stem leaves sessile, strap-spear-shaped. Bracteas egg-shaped, acute, entire. Engl. Bot. t. 142.-Jacq. Fl. Austr. t. 437.-Loddiges' Botanical Cabinet, t. 122.-Hook. Fl. Lond. t. 55.-Linn. Sp. Pl. p. 242.-Huds. Fl. Angl. (2nd ed.) p. 97.--Sm. Fl. Brit. v. i. p. 240. Engl. Fl. v. i. p. 295.-With. (7th ed.) v. ii. p. 306.-Gray's Nat. Ar. v. ii. p. 411.-Lind. Syn. p. 135.-Hook. Br. Fl. p. 100. -Aiton's Hort. Kew. (1st ed.) v. i. p. 226. Ait. Hort. Kew. (2nd ed.) v. i. p. 354. Don's Gen. Syst. of Gard. and Bot. v. iii. p. 747.-Phyteuma cordata, Sims. Bot. Mag. t. 1466.-Rapunculus orbicularis, Scop. Fl. Carniol. (2nd ed.) v. i, p. 150.-Rapunculus corniculatus montanus, Ray's Syn. p. 278.-Johnson's Gerarde, p. 455.-Rapunculus folio oblongo, spica orbiculari, Blackst. Spec. Bot. p. 80. LOCALITIES.-In pastures, and by road-sides, in a chalky soil, but very rare.— Hampshire; On the Downs in many places: RAY, 1690; and Mr. W. PAMPLIN, jun. 1833. On the chalky hills by Maple Durham: MERRETT, 1666. Fig. 1. Calyx and Bractea.-Fig. 2. Bractea, Calyx, and unexpanded Corolla. Fig. 3. A separate Flower; a. the calyx; b. the corolla; c. the stamens; d, the pistil.-Fig. 4. A Petal.-Fig. 5. The Stamens and Pistil.-Fig. 6. A single Stamen.-Fig. 7. The Head of Capsules.-Figs. 8 & 9. Separate Capsules. Figs. 10 & 11. Seeds.-Figs. 9 & 11 magnified. * A name adopted by Dioscorides. + See Anchusa sempervirens, folio 48, note t Meonstoke: Dr. PULTENEY. With white flowers about Buriton.: Dr. PULTENEY.-Kent; Bacon Hill: BLACKSTONE.-Middlesex; Between Kingsbury and Harrow; and between Harrow and Pinner: Dr. MARTYN.-Surrey; Chalky pastures near Leatherhead, Croydon, and other parts of the county, plentifully : HUDSON, 1778. Near Leatherhead: Mr. W. PAMPLIN, jun. 1833. About chalk-pits near Dorking, and in fields near Leatherhead: N. J. WINCH, Esq. On a high bank just before you reach Mickleham, on the left. About Coulsdon; Box Hill: Fl. Metrop.-On Epsom Downs; and near Chipstead: Mr. E. FORSTER, jun. Towards Hedley; and near Cheam : Mr. T. F. FORSTER, jun. Old chalk pits near Ashstead: Mr. W. PAMPLIN, jun. -Mr. PAMPLIN informs me, that it has become scarce in this locality; that when he botanized that place in 1833, he could find but a single specimen-Sussex; On the Downs: RAY, 1690. Near Eastbourne: W. C. TREVELYAN, Esq. in New Bot. Guide.--About Brighton: Sir T. G. CULLUM. Perennial. Flowers in July and August. Root long and woody, branching near the crown into several divisions, each bearing a tuft of petiolated, smooth, veiny, crenated leaves; the earliest heart-shaped; the next egg-spear-shaped. Stems solitary, upright, from 6 inches to a foot or more high, simple, somewhat angular, smooth, leafy. Leaves on the lower part of the stem egg-spear-shaped, crenated, and, like the radical ones, on long petioles; those on the upper part egg-shaped or spearshaped, sessile and fringed at the base. Flowers of a most beautiful brilliant blue, numerous, inodorous, sessile, forming a round head, accompanied by several close, egg-spear-shaped, leafy bracteas (see figs. 1 & 2). Corolla divided to the base into 5 strap-shaped, spreading segments (see fig. 3), which, in the bud, cohere together, forming a curved horn, and separating first at their lower part (see fig. 2). As the capsules ripen, the head (fig. 7.) becomes oval, and the parts of the flower, after lasting long in a faded state, are finally deciduous, except the fringed calyx, which is permanent; and, when the seed is ripe, spreads in a stellated manner. -The whole herb is milky, but not acrid. The drawing for the accompanying plate was made from a plant kindly presented to me by my much esteemed friend, Mr. JOHN SMITH, Tailor, of Beaumont Buildings, Oxford. Mr. SMITH is an ardent lover of flowers, and his garden, which is only a few yards square, contains a great number of rare and curious hardy plants, chiefly those of small growth, all in an excellent state of cultivation. The CAMPANULA'CEE are dicotyledonous herbaceous plants or under shrubs, yielding a white milky juice. Their leaves are without stipula, and are almost always alternate, simple, usually toothed or crenated; the radical ones often different from the cauline ones. Their flowers are single, racemose, panicled, spicate or glomerate, usually blue or white, very rarely yellow. The calyx is superior, and permanent; usually of 5, but sometimes of from 3 to 8, lobes. The corolla is monopetalous, regular, deciduous, or permanent, 5, or sometimes 3- to 8-lobed, rarely of 5 petals with broad connivent claws. The stamens are definite, and, like the corolla, inserted in the margin of the disc of the ovary, and combined with it, distinct from the corolla, but equal in number to its segments, and alternating with them. The anthers are 2-celled, distinct, with round pollen. The ovary is inferior, with 2 or more many-seeded cells; a simple style; and a stigma which is either simple, or of as many lobes as there are cells to the ovary. The fruit is a dry, many-seeded capsule, crowned by the withered calyx and corolla, and opening by lateral irregular apertures, or by valves at the apex, always loculicidal. The seeds are numerous, small, and attached to a placenta in the axis. The albumen is fleshy; the embryo slender, and straight, with opposite, egg-shaped or roundish, small, foliaceous cotyledons. All the plants of this family are pretty, and some of them are highly ornamental. The roots of Campanula Rapunculus are used as a vegetable, under the name of Rampion. |