254 MENYANTHliS. fcLASS v. order i. 



ovate oblong. Pistil about the length of the stamens. Sti(/ma ob- 

 tuse notched. Capsule seldom perfected, globose. 



Habitat. — Wet shady pastures and banks; not so common as the 

 last. 



Perennial ; flowering in June and July. 



Infusions or decoctions of this plant are said to be vulnary and anti- 

 scorbutic, and useful in dysentery. Pliny, moreover, says it tames 

 restive horses; but now-a-days we do not find it to have any of these 

 virtues, either for one complaint or other, much less for the purpose 

 in which Pliny says it is so potent. 



GENUS XVI. MENYAN'THES.— Link. Buckbean. 



Nat. OrJ. Gentia'ne^. Juss. 



Gen. Char. Calyx five parted. Corolla funnel-shaped. The limh 

 of five spreading segments, bearded within. Stigma capitate, 

 two lobed. Capsttle two valved. Seeds numerous. — Name from 

 " jxrivn, a month ; and avSo?, a flower ." 



1. 31. trifolia'ta, Linn. (Fig. 336.) common Buckbean, or Marsh 

 Trefoil. Leaves ternate. 



English Botany, t. 495.— English Flora, vol. i. p, 275. — Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 168. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 179. 



Root long, branched fibres from the joints of the long creeping 

 underground stems, which are mostly very numerous, and matted 

 together, round, smooth, stout, succulent, passing into flotcering stems, 

 which are procumbent at the base, mostly clothed \\ilh the dry mem- 

 branous sheath of old leaves, frequently branched, ascending towards 

 the summit, where it is leafy. Leaves ternate, on a long stout foot- 

 stalk, terminating in their membianous sheaths enfolding the stem, 

 leaflets ovate or obovale, sometimes acute, or ovate-lanceolate, smooth, 

 with a stout mid-rib, and numerous lateral branches, the margins 

 waved, or S(jme«hat toothed. Inflorescence a raceme, or thyrsus, of 

 numerous flowers, on a round smooth succulent stalk, from four to 

 eight inches long, arising from the axis of the leaves. Flowers 

 crowded, white cr flesh coloured, tipped externally with pink, on round, 

 smooth, .short pedicles from the axis, of a small ovate or ovate acute 

 bracteu. Calyx of five ovate deeply divided segments, about half as 

 long as the funnel-shaped corolla. The tube .short, dilated upwards. 

 The limb of five segments, ovale, acute, rcflcxed, smooth and veiny 

 externally, much bearded within, with long slender waved filaments. 

 Stamens the length of the corolla. Filaments slender, iVom about th« 



