GENTIANACK.^. (GENTIAN FAMILY.) 353 



2. B. verna, Muhl. Stem l- few-flowered ; flowers 3 - 4" long, larger ; lobes 

 of the corolia spatulate, obtuse, spreading, thrice the lemjtli of the cah/.r: anthers 

 ohionij ; ovary flat. — Bogs uear the coast, S. Va. to Fla. and La ^larch. 



8. OBOLARIA, L. 



Calyx of 2 s]:)atulate spreading sepals, resembling the leaves. Corolla tul)u- 

 lar-bell-shaped, withering-persistent, 4-cleft ; the lobes oval-oblong, or witli age 

 spatulate, imbricated in the bud ! Stamens inserted at the sinuses of the co- 

 rolla, short. Style short, persistent; stigma 2-lipped. Capsule ovoid, 1-celled, 

 tlie cell cruciform ; the seeds covering the whole face of the walls. — A low 

 and very smootli purplish-green perennial (3-8' high), witli a simple or spar- 

 ingly branched stem, opposite wedge-obovate leaves ; the dull wliite or pur- 

 plish flowers solitary or in clusters of three, terminal and axillary, nearly 

 sessile; in spring. (Name from 6^o\6s, a small Greek coin, from the thick 

 rounded leaves.) 



1. O. Virginica, L. Herbaceous and rather fleshy, the lower leaves 

 scale-like ; flowers 4'' long. — Moist woods, N, J. to 111., south to Ga. and Tex. 



9. MENYANTHES, Tourn. Buckbean. 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla short funnel-form, 5-cleft, deciduous, the whole 

 upper surface white-bearded, valvate in the bud with the margins turned in- 

 ward. Style slender, persistent; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule bursting somewhat 

 irregularly, many-seeded. Seed-coat hard, smooth, and shining. — A perennial 

 alternate-leaved herb, with a thickisli creeping rootstock, sheathed by the 

 membranous bases of the long petioles, wliich bear 3 oval or oblong leaflets ; 

 the flowers racemed on the naked scape (1° high), white or slightly reddish. 

 (The ancient Theophrastian name, probably from /j.r)u, month, and &i/dos, a 

 flower, some say from its flowering for about that time.) 



1. M. trifoliata, L — Bogs, N. J. and Penn. to lud. and Iowa, and far 

 north and westward. May, June. (Eu., Asia.) 



10. LIMNANTHEMUM, Gmelin. Floating Heart. 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla almost wheel-shaped, 5-parted, the divisions fringed 

 or bearded at the base or margins only, folded iuward in the bud, bearing a 

 glandular appendage near the base. Style short or none ; stigma 2-lobed, per- 

 sistent. Capsule few - many-seeded, at length bursting irregularly. Seed-coat 

 hard. — Perennial aquatics, with rounded floating leaves on very long petioles, 

 which, in most species, bear near the summit the umbel of (polygamous) 

 flowers, along with a cluster of short and spur-like,roots, sometimes shooting 

 forth new leaves from the same place, and so spreading by a sort of proliferous 

 stolons, flowering all summer. (Xame compounded of Ki^v-q, a inarslt ov pool, 

 and avde/nop, a blossom, from the situations where they grow.) 



1. L. lacunbsum, Grisebach. Leaves entire, round-heart-shaped (1 -2' 

 broad), thickisli , petioles filiform; lobes of the (white) corolla broadly oval, 

 naked, except the crest-like yellowish gland at the base, twice the length of 

 the lanceolate calyx-lobes ; style none ; seeds smooth and even. — Shallow 

 .ivater, from Maine to Minn., south to Fla. and La. 



