Plant Families: Campanulaceae and Cannabinaceae

We all know the aptly named Bluebell Family (Campanulaceae); little bells of blue and lavender dangling from stems like jewelry, decorating meadows and thickets and roadsides. They are wildflowers lovely enough to be grown by gardeners as ornamentals.

Rarely trees or shrubs, there are about 900 species of bluebells in about 35 genera. They are widely distributed in tropical and temperate regions. The flowers grow in clusters or solitary, and are either radially symmetrical, with a tubular or bell-shaped corolla, or bilaterally symmetrical, with a 2-lipped corolla. All flowers have 5 stamens.

Leaves are alternate and simple. The fruit is a berry or capsule.

The Campanula genus gives us Tall Bellflower (C. americana), Southern Harebell (C. divaricarta), California Bluebell (C. premanthoides), and Alaska Bluebell (C. lasiocarpa). Among the Lobelias we find Indian Tobacco (L. inflata), Rothrock's Lobelia (L. dunnii), Great Lobelia (L. siphilitica), Spiked Lobelia (L. spicata), and the gorgeously red-flowered Cardinal Flower (L. cardinalis. The genus Downingia decorates western landscapes with lovely blue to lavender flowers splotched with white and yellow Rorschach patterns. Species include Cupped Downingia (D. insignis), Fringed Downingia (D. concolor), and Cascade Downingia (D. yina).

It's a colorful family.

The same can be said for the Hemp Family (Cannabinaceae), but in an altogether different fashion. And any garden it grows in is likely hidden away in Humboldt Co., California.

We all know Marijuana (Cannabis sativa). We were warned of the evils of Marijuana in that great ol' "classic" Reefer Madness. Jack Kerouac and his beret-wearin', goatee-sportin', jazz-saxophone blowin' Beats extolled the virtues of the herb. Paul McCartney did time in Japan for possession of what he called "herbal jazz cigarettes". Well, regardless of its virtues and its evils, Marijuana is a wildflower in North America, introduced from Asia. It is one of only 4 known species in the Hemp Family. These 4 species fall in one of 2 genera, Cannabis or Humulus).

Humulus, which is widely distributed throughout the northern temperate region, is an economically important plant. It is used in the production of hops, used in the making of beer.

Cannabis, which is typically stuffed into rolling papers like ground beef in stuffed peppers, in addition to its, um, mood-lightening properties, is a source of fiber. Fiber not to keep you regular, but fiber as in the making of clothes and rope. So it is also economically important, jut not always legally.

Hemp flowers are either male - staminate - or female - pistillate. The male flowers grow in long, loose clusters. They have 5 sepals. There are no petals. The female flowers grow in dense clusters. Each flower has a single sepal closely associated with the bracts.

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