348 GENTIANACE.E. (GENTIAN FAMILY.) 



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

 short. Style short, persistent : stigma 2-lipped. Pod ovoid, 1 -celled, the cell 

 cruciform: the seeds covering the whole face of the walls. — A low and very 

 smooth purplish-green perennial (3' -8' high), with a simple or sparingly 

 branched stem, opposite wedge-obovate leaves ; the dull white or purplish 

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

 (Name from o/3oAos, a small Greek coin; to which, however, the leaves of this 

 plant bear no manifest resemblance.) 



1. O. Vis'g'BlBBCa, L. {Gray, Cldor. Bor.-Am., t. 3.) — Rich soil, in 

 woods, from New Jersey to Ohio, Illinois, and southward : rather rare. 

 April, May. 



8, MEKYAKTHES, Toum. Buckbean. 



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

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

 Style slender, persistent : stigma 2-lobed. Pod bursting somewhat irregularly, 

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

 leaved herb, with a thickish creeping rootstoek, sheathed by the membranous 

 bases of the long petioles, which bear 3 oval or oblong leaflets at the summit; 

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

 (The ancient Tlicophrastian name, probably from nrjv, month, and civdos, n flower, 

 some say from its flowering for about that time.) 



1. M. trifbliata., L. — Bogs, New England to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, 

 and northward. May, June. (Eu.) 



9. LI1NAHTHEMUM, Gmelin. Floating Heart. 



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

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

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

 sistent. Pod 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 their 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. (Name compounded of \ijivt], a marsh or pool, and civdefiov, a blossom, 

 from the situations where they grow.) 



1. Ei. lacfiasdsuill, Griseb. (partly). Leaves round-heart-shaped, thick- 

 ish ; lobes of the (white) corolla broadly oval, naked, except the crest-like yel- 

 lowish gland at their base, twice the length of the lanceolate calyx-lobes ; style 

 none; seeds smooth and even. (Villarsia lacunosa, Vent. V. cordata, Ell.) — 

 Shallow ponds, from Maine and N. New York to Virginia and southward. 

 June- Sept. — Leaves 1'- 2' broad, entire, on petioles 4' -15' long, according 

 to the depth of the water. 



L. trachyspermtjm of the South has roughened seeds as its name denotes, 

 and is entirely distinct. 



