PENTANDRIA— MONOGYNIA. Menyanthes. 275 

 99. MENYANTHES. Buckbean. 



Linn. Gen. 82. Juss. 98. Fl. Br. 225. Tourn. 1. 15. Lam. t. 100, 



Gartn. t. \\4. 

 Nymphoides. Tourn. t. 67. 

 Villarsia. Venten. Choix9. Br.Pr.456. 



Nat. Ord. doubtful ; akin to Gentiance. Juss. 46. 



Cal. inferior, of I leaf, in 5 deep, slightly spreading, seg- 

 ments, permanent. Cor. of 1 petal, funnel-shaped ; tube 

 short, somewhat dilated upward ; limb divided beyond 

 the middle, into 5 spreading or recurved, more or less 

 pointed, segments, bearded on the disk, at the base, or 

 at the margin. Filam. awl-shaped, short, attached to the 

 tube, alternate with the segments of the limb. Anth. cloven 

 at the base, erect. Germ, conical. Style cylindrical, about 

 equal to the stamens. Stigma lobed or notched. Caps. 

 ovate, surrounded at the lower part by the calyx, of 1 

 cell, and 2, more or less separable, valves. Seeds nume- 

 rous, attached to the margins of each valve. 



Villarsia is kept distinct from the original Menyanthes, by 

 Mr. Brown, after the example of Tournefort, Wiggers, 

 Ventenat, and others, chiefly because of its corolla having 

 to each segment a bordered fringed margin ; while the 

 base of the limb, not the middle of the disk, is hairy, or 

 bearded. The leaves moreover are simple, not ternate. 

 But as this able botanist is doubtful of the natural order 

 of both his genera, which renders their limitation the 

 more precarious; and differs from Wiggers in believing 

 they belong to one and the same order ; I greatly scruple 

 to divide them. They are herbaceous, perennial, smooth, 

 aquatic or bog, plants, very vascular, with stalked leaves 

 and Jlowers. Leaves ternate, and flowers clustered, white 

 or reddish, densely shaggy, in Menyanthes. Leaves simple, 

 undivided, and^. axillary, or clustered, mostly yellow, 

 with a darker, elevated, naked disk, in Villarsia. 



1. M. trifoliata. Common Buckbean, or Bog-bean. 

 Marsh Trefoil. 



Leaves ternate. Disk of the corolla densely shaggy. 



M. trifoliata. Linn.Sp.Pl.208. Willd. v. 1.811. Fl. Br. 225. Engl. 

 Bot. v. 7. t. 495. Curt. Lond.fasc. 4. t. 1 7. Woodv. Med. Bot. 

 t. 2. Hook. Scot. 71. Fl.Dan.t.54\. Bull. Fr. t.\3\. Bigclow 

 Med, Bot. Arner, t. 46. 



T 2 



