Campanulaceae

Annuals, perennials, more rarely shrubs, small trees, or vines, mostly laticiferous, sometimes with subterranean tubers. Leaves exstipular, simple, entire or toothed to incised (rarely pinnatifid), spirally arranged or alternate, rarely opposite. Flowers often blue, violet, red, or white, frequently protrandrous (rarely dioecious), axillary or terminal, solitary or in mostly bracteate, racemose inflorescences (rarely cymes), bisexual (rarely unisexual or dioecious), isomerous, mostly 5-merous, regular or symmetric. Pedicels mostly with 2 bracteoles. Calyx segments mostly free, often persistent, valvate. Petals connate to various degree, sometimes almost free (exceptionally free), valvate in bud; in strongly zygomorphous flowers the corolla bilabiate dorsally slit and the lobes often very unequal, the lower lip often with 2 convexities near the base. Stamens adnate to the corolla or free from it, mutually mostly partly connate (either the filaments or part of them and the anthers or only the latter); filaments often widened at the base; anthers introrse, in zygomorphic flowers often unequal, often 2 or more with apical setae, further glabrous haired. Disk epigynous, mostly free. Ovary inferior or partly so (rarely superior), 2-5-celled. Style 1, often with hairs below the 2-5 stigmatic lobes. Ovules ~, mostly on axile placentas (exceptionally parietal in incompletely celled ovaries). Fruit capsular or a berry, or berry-like, mostly dehiscing at the apex with valves, or circumsciss. Seeds ~; embryo straight; albuminous. Distribution. Rather large family, with a worldwide distribution, with approximately 60-70 genera and roughly between 1000 and 1500 spp., the largest ones, Lobelia and Campanula, counting several hundreds of species. In Malaysia the family is sparsely represented although with one endemic genus, Phyllocharis, in New Guinea, and a subendemic one, Pentaphragma.