Trachelium
(from trachelos, the neck; alluding to the supposed efficacy of the plants in diseases of the trachea). Throatwort. ORD. Campanulaceae. A small genus (four or five species) of hardy, perennial herbs or sub-shrubs, natives of the Mediterranean region. Flowers sub-umbellate or in a corymbosely-branched panicle; calyx tube adnate, the limb five-parted; corolla narrow-tubular, shortly five-lobed at apex; stamens free. Leaves exstipulate. Only one species calls for mention here. It thrives in a compost of sandy loam and vegetable mould. Increased by seeds, sown on a slight hotbed, in spring; or by cuttings of young shoots, inserted in sandy soil, in April, or at the end of summer.
T. caeruleum (blue). fl. small, very numerous, corymbose; corolla violet-blue, salver-shaped, with a long and very narrow tube. August. l. ovate, acute, deeply serrated, on short petioles. Stem erect. h. 2ft. Italy and Spain, 1640. (B. R. 72.) T. c. album (white). This only differs from the type in having white flowers.