O73 ORD. XV. Rotacee: MeNYANTHES TRIFOLIATA, 
THIS plant is common in every part of England ; it grows in 
marshes and ponds, producing its flowers in an open terminal spike 
about the latter end of June. The scapus, or stalk, rises from.six © 
to twelve inches in height. The petals are sometimes entirely 
white, but more commonly rose-coloured-on the outside, and within 
they are finely fringed; so as to havea hairy or fibrous appearance, 
hence named Trifoliems Fibrinum : the root is perennial, creeping, 
and jointed, sending forth many long slender. filaments. The tri- 
foliata is easily distinguished from thé other species of Menyanthes 
by its ternate leaves, which have been thought to resemble those 
of the common garden bean, and have given it the English name, 
Buckbean. ott. = 
The whole plant is so extremely bitter, that in some countries 
it is used as a substitute for hops in the preparation of malt liquor*; 
yet Linneus observes, that the poorer people in Lapland make a 
bread of the powdered roots mixed with meal, but at the same time 
he acknowledges it is a very unpalatable food.” 
The blackness manifested by adding a solution of green vitriol 
to the juice, or to a strong infusion of the leaves of Buckbean, is’a 
sufficient test of its astringency ; while a dram of the powdered 
leaves seldom fails to open the body, or produce vomiting; so that 
in common with the tonic properties of a bitter, it seems farther to 
possess a considerable share of medicinal activity: we can therefore 
more easily credit the reports of its success in a great number of 
chronic diseases mentioned by various authors,‘ as scurvy, dropsy, 
@ Flor, Lappon. p. 50. > Ibid. 
© Trifolii Fibrini Historia, selectis gg te et perspicuis exemplis, illus. 
trata a Jo. Franco, anno 1701. 
Recte observavit D. Tancredus Robinson herbam hanc Germanis, siisnepus genti- 
bus septentrionalibus nunc dierum unicé charam et in magno pretio esse, et assiduo 
usu frequentari in omnibus fere morbis, ut certissimam panaceam ad quam etiam in 
_deploratis affectibus, velut ad sacram anchoram, confugiunt (Raii Histor. Plant. p. 
1099.) See also Willius Act. Hafn. vol. 3. Sim. Panli, Quadrip. Bot. p. 173, et 
seq. Tilling Mise. N. curios. Dec. 2. Gulbrand Diss. de Sanguifluxu Uterine 
Du Clos Anc. Mem. p. 329. Schulz Mat. Med. p. 445. 
