MENYANTHACE/;. I. 
Orver CLV. MENYANTHA‘CE (this order contains 
plants agreeing with Menydnthes in important characters). Ge- 
nera Gentianeis affinia, R. Br. prod. 456. | Menyánthes, Lin. 
and others. 
Calyx 5-parted. Corolla subrotate ; with a 5-parted, spread- 
ing limb ; segments with a flat disk, which is bearded or squam- 
mulose at the base, or bearded lengthwise; having ascending or 
simple margins, inflexed in estivation. Stamens 5, alternating 
with the segments of the corolla. Style 1. Stigma 2-lobed: 
lobes toothed. Hypogynous glands 5, alternating with the sta- 
mens. Capsule 1-celled, many-seeded, 2-valved, but in aquatic 
species valveless; axils of valves seminiferous ; that is, the seeds 
are attached to parietal placentas on the edges of the valves. 
Floating aquatic or marsh herbs. Leaves simple or trifoliate, alter- 
nate, rarely opposite, entire, or toothed in most of the species, 
dotted: having the petioles dilated and sheathing a little at the 
base. Flowers subumbellate, axillary, sometimes seated on the 
petioles, or panicled and terminal. Corolla yellow, white, or 
reddish ; having the margins of the segments entire or fringed. 
This order agrees with Gentiànec in the parietal seeds, and in 
their internal structure ; and moreover, the cotyledons are half 
discrete, as in Astérias lütea, and finally, there are scales in 
the throat ‘of the corollas, as in Swértia; but it differs particularly 
from Gentiànec in the leaves being alternate, and often toothed 
or divided. In the true Gentiànece, as in Apocynee and Rubid- 
cec, the leaves are always entire and opposite, and verticillate; 
with very few exceptions. Like Gentidnee, the properties of 
this order are tonic, stomachic, and febrifugal; their bitterness 
being extreme. 
Synopsis of the genera. 
1 Menya/NTHES. 
with simple margins. 
2 ViLLA'RSIA. 
Segments of corolla bearded lengthwise, 
Leaves trifoliate. 
Segments of corolla bearded or scaly at the 
base; with ascending margins.—Leaves simple. 
I. MENYA'NTHES (uevvavðec, menyanthes, is reckoned by 
Theophrastus and Dioscorides, and Minyanthes by Pliny, among 
coronary trefoils. Linnaeus derives the name from pny, men, a 
month, and a»0oc, anthos, a flower; because the flowers con- 
tinue open about that time). Tourn. inst. t. 15. Gaertn. fruct. 
2.p. 158. t. 114. R. Br. prod. p. 457. Roem. et Schultes, 
syst. 4. p. XVII. Menyánthes species, Lin. gen. 202. Juss. 
gen. p. 98. &c. Acdpa, Mor. hist. 
Lin. syst.  Pentándria, Monogy'nia. Calyx 5-parted. Co- 
rolla funnel-shaped; with a spreading equal limb: segments 
bearded or crested lengthwise, with flat margins. ` Stigma capi- 
tate, 2-lobed, bearded. Capsule 1-celled, 2-valved; valves 
placentiferous at the axis. Seeds numerous, ovate or obovate, 
surrounded with a membranous ciliated margin, fixed on each 
side of the valves in a double row, parietal.— Aquatic glabrous 
herbs. Stems green, rooting. Leaves alternate, trifoliate. 
Flowers white inside and reddish outside, disposed in an axillary 
pedunculate thyrse. Segments with finely ciliated edges. 
* Leaves trifoliate. Flowers white. 
1 M. rriroria’ra (Lin. spec. 208.) leaves trifoliate; ra- 
cemes thyrsoid, axillary; segments of corolla bearded length- 
wise. 2. W. H. Native throughout Europe and Siberia, near 
MENYANTHES. 167 
Salair, and Bernaoul, in ponds and lakes; plentiful in Britain. 
Woody. med. bot. 5. t. 2. Curt. lond. 4. t. 17. Oed. fl. dan. 
t. 541. Smith, engl. bot. 495. Stev. et Church, med. bot. t. 
46. Bulliard, herb. f. 131. Sabb. hort. 1. t. 88. Zorn. icon. 
13. Bieb. cauc. 1. p. 141. Bess. vohl. p. 10. Trifolium màjus, 
Tabern. icon. t. 520. f. 2. Trifolium palüstre, Bauh. pin. 327. 
Blackw. t. 474. Trifolium paludósum, Ger. emac. 1194. 
Acópa Dioscóridis, Mor. hist. 3. p. 604. sect. 15. t. 2. —Gmel. 
sib. 4. p. 97. no. 55. Roots creeping, jointed. Stem procum- 
bent, covered by the sheaths of the leaves. Leaflets ovate, 
obtuse. Peduncles axillary, terminating in a thyrse of white 
bearded flowers, which are rose-coloured outwardly. Anthers 
purplish, with the tips curved inwards. This plant was for- 
merly called Marsh Trefoil, and Marsh Claver or Clover. It is 
now generally called Buck-bean, or Bog-bean, from the German 
Bocshohne, or Bitterklee, and the Danish Bukkeblade. The 
whole plant, and particularly the root, has an intensely bit- 
ter taste, which resides chiefly in an extractive matter, solu- 
ble in water and spirit. Given in small doses, of about 10 
grains, imparts vigour to the stomach, and strengthens digestion. 
Its virtues were formerly properly estimated ; and strange it is 
that so excellent and cheap a tonic should be so little employed. 
It gives out its virtues to boiling water, and a tincture may be 
made from it quite equal in its effects to that of gentian. Large 
doses, either in substance or decoction, produce vomiting, like 
many other vegetable bitters. Boerhaave was relieved from 
gout from drinking the juice of the plant, mixed with whey. 
An infusion of the leaves are extremely bitter, and of late 
years has been in common use as an alterative and aperient. A 
drachm of the powder is aperient and emetic; and it is some- 
times used as an anthelmintic. As an active and eccophrotic 
bitter, it seems not ill adapted to supply the want of bile; and 
thus may be of use fh protracted jaundice and other biliary 
obstructions. Cullen mentions several instances of its good 
effects in some cutaneous diseases of the herpetic and seemingly 
cancerous kind. In a scarcity of hops this plant is used, in 
the north of Europe, to give a bitter to the beer: 2 ounces will 
supply the place of a pound of hops. The powdered roots are 
sometimes used, in Lapland, instead of bread, but they are 
unpalatable. Some say that sheep will eat it, and that it cures 
them of the rot. 
Var. B, Americana (G. Don, in Loud. hort. brit. p. 58.) plant 
much more robust, but not otherwise distinct. %.W.H. Na- 
tive of North America. Menyanthes trifoliàta, Pursh, fl. amer. 
sept. 1. p. 139. Native of New Jersey, Virginia, and Canada, 
and of the island of Sitcha, in bogs and stagnant waters. 
This is a much more robust plant than the European species. 
The flowers are pale red and very handsome. 
Trifoliate Menyanthes, Buck-bean, or Bean-trefoil. Fl. May. 
Britain. Pl. aquatic. 
** Leaves simple. 
2 M. cnísrA-GA'LLI (Menzies, mss. ex Hook. bot. misc. 1. 
p. 45. t. 24.) leaves radical, on long petioles, reniform, cre- 
nated; scapes or peduncles corymbose ; segments of corolla 
undulated, and crested lengthwise. Y. B. H. Native of 
the north-west coast of America, in marshy mountain pastures, 
at Prince William’s Sound, and about Cape Edgecombe ; and of 
the island of Sitcha. Bongard. in mem. acad. petersb. 2. 
p.156. Roots or rhizoma horizontal. Scapes a foot high, 
reddish at top. Corollas white. The crests on the segments 
of the corolla are exactly similar to those of M. cristata, Roxb. 
which has also white flowers ; but with the habit and mode of 
growth of Villarsia. 
Cockscomb Buckbean. Pl. 1 foot. 
