Campanulaceæ.

Campanulaceæ. an order of corollifloral dicotyledons, herbs or rarely shrubs, with bitter milky juice; acrid and often poisonous; diuretic. The young shoots and roots of some species are, however, occasionally eaten, as is also the half-fleshy fruit of Canarina campanula, in the Canaries. While the Campanulaceæ proper, or Bells, with regular bell-like corolla and free anthers, are chiefly palæarctic, the more modified sub-order of Lobeliaceæ, with irregular corolla and coherent anthers, is chiefly tropical or subtropical. See CAMPANULA, LOBELIA.