366 



MENYANTHACEAE 



ovoid capsule, indehiscent or tardily rupturing. Seeds few, compressed-globose, shining. 

 [Name Greek meaning month and flower, perhaps in reference to the length of the bloom- 

 ing period.] 



A monotypic genus inhabiting the cooler parts of the northern hemisphere. 



1. Menyanthes trifoliata L. Buckbean. Fig. 3821. 



Menyanthes trifoliata L. Sp. PI. 145. 1753. 



Rootstocks thick, clothed with membranous sheathing bases of old petioles. Leaves 3-folio- 

 late, the leaflets oblong or obovate, narrowed to the sessile base, 2-6 cm. long, entire, pinnate- 

 veined ; petioles 3-20 cm. long, stout, sheathing at base ; raceme borne on a long naked peduncle 

 arising from the rootstock, 7-20-flowered ; pedicels stout, 5-25 mm. long, bracteate at base ; 

 calyx-lobes ovate-lanceolate, 3-5 mm. long ; corolla white or tinged with purple, the tube a little 

 longer than the calyx, the lobes spreading about 5 mm. long, bearded within with white hairs ; 

 anthers scarcely exserted and the style well-exserted, or anthers well-exserted and the style shorter ; 

 capsule ovoid, obtuse at apex, about 8 mm. long. 



Growing in bogs and margins of small lakes, Boreal and Transition Zones; Alaska to Greenland south 

 to California, Colorado, Indiana, and Pennsylvania; also Europe and Asia. In the Pacific States, it occurs 

 in the Cascade Mountains of Washington and Oregon and on the Pacific Slope from the Puget Sound to 

 western Oregon; in California it occurs in the Sierra Nevada as far south as Tulare County. Type locality: 

 Europe. May-Aug. 



2. NEPHROPHYLLIDIUM Gilg. in Engl. & Prantl. Nat. Pflanzenf. 4-:105. 



1895. 



Glabrous herb with stout creeping perennial rootstock inhabiting bogs and wet mead- 

 ows. Leaves basal, with reniform crenate blades and elongated petioles expanding at 

 base into a broad membranous sheath. Flowers in a simple or compound cyme terminat- 

 ing scape, the pedicels subtended by a bract. Calyx 5-lobed, the tube adnate to the ovary, 

 obconic, the lobes persistent. Corolla white, 5-lobed, the tube short, the lobes spreading, 

 with an undulating crest along the median nerve. Stamens 5, filaments filiform; anthers 

 sagittate. Ovary partly inferior, 1-celled with 2 parietal placentae; style short; stigma 

 discoid, obscurely 2-lobed. Capsule semi-inferior, the free portion narrowly conic, split- 

 ting into 4 teeth or lobes at apex. Seeds ellipsoid, flattened, light colored and shining. 

 [Name Greek, meaning like Nephrophylhim, a genus of the Convolvulaceae with kidney- 

 shaped leaves.] 



A monotypic genus of northwestern North America and Japan. 



1. Nephrophyllidium Crista-galli (Menzies) Gilg. Deer Cabbage. Fig. 3822. 



Menyanthes Crista-galli Menzies ex Hook. Bot. Misc. 1: 45. pi. 24. 1830. 

 Nephrophyllidium Crista-galli Gilg. in Eng. & Prantl. Nat. Pflanzenf. 4=: 106. 1895. 



Rootstocks stout, creeping covered with the broad membranous bases of the old petioles. 

 Leaves all basal, the blades reniform, sometimes broadly emarginate, crenate, 3-10 cm. broad; 



3821 

 3821. Menyanthes trifoliata 



3822 



3822. Nephrophyllidium Crista-galli 



