80 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



for the purpose, it is said, of adulterating beer. Tliis adulteration is, however, 

 perfectly harmless, and therefore cannot be so severely deprecated as many to which 

 the same beverage is subjected. Two ounces of dried leaves are said to be equal to 

 one pound of hops in flavouring beer. The creeping stems or rhizomes of the Buck- 

 bean contain a large quantity of farinaceous matter resembling starch. In Lapland 

 and Finland these rhizomes are sometimes powdered, washed to get rid of the bitter 

 principle, and then made into a kind of bread — not very palatable but somewhat 

 nutritious. The Buckbean is one of the prettiest of our wild flowers and deserving of 

 cultivation in the garden, where it grows and thrives well if planted in peat, and with 

 water constantly around the roots. 



The Buckbean has a reputation for preserving sheep from the rot ; but it is 

 exceedingly probable that these animals seldom touch it, on account of its bitterness, 

 and this fact is observed by several botanists. 



GENUS r/.— LIMN ANTHE MUM. Gmel. 



Calyx 5-partite. Corolla funnelshaped-rotate, membranous, 

 deciduous ; tube very short ; limb 5-partite, with the segments 

 bearded or ciliated in various ways, frequently with glands. 

 Stamens 5, inserted in the tube of the corolla ; filaments not 

 dilated at the base ; anthers not twisted spirally after the pollen 

 is shed. Style commonly scarcely distinguishable from the pro- 

 longed point of the ovary ; stigma bilobed. Capsule 1-celled, 

 indehiscent, or bursting irregularly without separating into valves. 

 Seeds 2 or numerous. 



Aquatic herbs, with floating peltate or cordate leaves, and 

 flowers in irregular simple umbels, generally yellow. 



The name of this genus of plants is from Xi/xj/jj {limne), a pool, and ai'doe (antlios), 

 a flower, from the habitat of the species. 



SPECIES I.— LIMNANTHEMUM NYMPH^OIDES. Link 



Plate DCCCCXXI. 



jReich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MXLII. 

 JBUlot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1710. 

 Menyanthes nymphseoides, Linn. Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 217. 



Villarsia nymphncoides, Vent. Bab. Man. Brit. Bot. p. 224. Hook & Am. Brit. Fl, 

 ed. viii. p. 284. 



Eootstock creeping, producing alternate leaves, and flowering- 

 stems with opposite leaves. Leaves all stalked, floating, orbicular, 

 very deeply cordate, with the basal lobes contiguous, repand-dentate. 

 Mowers in umbels at the termination of the stem, but appearing 

 axillary from the growth of a proliferous branch, which seems a 

 continuation of the stem. Calyx-segments oblong-strapshaped. 



