PLAKIS I.'URNISHINO MEDICINAL l.KAVKS AND KERBS. 



1>1 



BUCK liEAN. 



Menyanthes Irifoliata I>. 



Other common names.- — ^Bog bean, bog luyrtJe, l)()g hop, bog nut,, brook 1)ean, l)ean 

 trefoil, nuirsli trefoil, water trefoil, bitter trefoil, waler shann-ock, marsh clover, 

 moonfiower, bitterworin. 



Ilahitut and range. — The l)iick bean is a marsh herb occurring in North America as 

 far south as Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and California. It is also native in Europe. 



Description. — This per- 

 ennial herb arises from a 

 long, black, creeping, scaly 

 rootstock, the leaves be- 

 ing produced from the end 

 of the same on erect 

 sheathing stems measuring 

 about 2 to 10 inches in 

 height. The leaves con- 

 sist of three oblong-oval or 

 broadly oval leaflets H to 

 3 inches long, somewhat 

 fleshy and smooth, blunt 

 at the top. with margins 

 entire and narrowed to- 

 ward the base; the upper 

 surface is pale green and 

 the lower surface some- 

 what glossy, with the thick 

 midrib light in color. The 

 flower cluster is produced 

 from May to July on a long, 

 thick, naked stalk arising 

 from the rootstock It 

 bears from 10 to 20 flowers, 

 each with a funnel-shaped 

 tul)e terminating in five 

 segments which are pink- 

 ish purple or whitish on 

 the outside and whitish 

 and thickly bearded with 

 white hairs within. (Fig. 

 13.) The capsules which follow are ovate, blunt at the top, smooth and light 

 brown, and contain numerous smooth and shining seeds. Buck bean is a perennial 

 lielonging to the buck-bean family (Menyanthacese). 



Collection, prices, and uses. — The leaves are generally collected in spring. They 

 lose more than three-fourths of their weight in drying. The price paid per pound is 

 about 6 to 8 cents. 



Buck-bean leaves have a very bitter taste, but no odor. Large doses are said to have 

 cathartic and sometimes emetic action, but the })rincipal use of buck-bean leaves is 

 as a bitter tonic. They have been employed in dyspepsia, fevers, rheumatic and 

 skin affections, and also as a remedy against worms. 



The rootstock is also sometimes employed medicinally and was recognized in tlie 

 United States Pharmacopoeia from 1830 to 1840. 

 219 



Fig. 13.— Buck bean {Menyanthes trifoHata), flowering jilanl. 



