390 GENTIANACK^. (GENTIAN FAMILY.) 



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

 sliort. Style short, persistent : stigma 2-lipped. Pod ovoid, l-cclled, the ecll 

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

 smooth purplish-green perennial (3' - 8' high), witli 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 ; in 

 spring. (Xanie from o^oXoy, a small Greek coin; to which, however, the 

 leaves of this plant bear no manifest resemblance.) 



1. O. Virginica, L. (Grntj, Clilor. Bm-.-Am., t.?,.) — Rich soil, in woods, 

 from New Jersey to Illinois, and soutlnvard : rather raie. 



8. MENYANTHES, Tourn. Buckbean. 



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

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

 Style slender, persistent : stigma 2-lol)ed. Pod bursting somewhat irregularly, 

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

 leaved herb, with a thickit;h creeping rootstoek, sheathed by the membranous 

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

 the flowers raeemed on the naked scajie (l°high), white or slightly reddish. 

 (The ancient Theophrastian name, ])robably from }ir]v, month, and (wBos, a 

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



1. M. trifoliata, I>. — Bogs, New England to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, 

 and northward. May, June. (Eu.) 



9. LIMNAISTTHEMUM, Gmclin. Flo.^ting Heart. 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla almost wheel-shaped, 5-parted, 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-lobcd, 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 s])ur-like roots, sometimes shooting 

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

 stolons : flowering all summer. (Name compounded of 'Kl^vr), a marsh or/W, 

 and uvSfiJiov, a hlotKoin, from the situations where they grow.) 



1. L. lacunbsum, Gri.sebach (partly). Zeai'es ph^')7>, round-lioart-sliaped 

 (l'-2' broad), thickish ; petioles filiform ; lobes of the (white) corolla broadly 

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

 of the lanceolate calyx-lobes; style none; xarls smoo/h and rrni. (Villarsia 

 lacunosa. Vent. Y. cordlita, Ell.) — Shallow water, from Maine and N. New 

 York to Virginia and southward. 



2. L. trachyspermum, Gray. /.«7tvs/(/)y/rc (2'- C broad), and rounder, 

 thicker, often wavy-margined or crenate, roughisli and dark-punctate or pitted 

 beneath ; ])etioles stouter ; seech i/landiilar-ruui/hciictl. (Menyanthes traehysperma, 

 Michx.) — Ponds, Maryland ( IF. M^. Canbij) and southward. 



