Menyanthes. TOLEMONIACE^R. 485 



5. MENYANTHES, Toum. Buckbean. 

 Calyx 5-parted. Corolla nearly canipanulate, tlio lobes valvate in the bud with 

 the margins turned inward, the upper surface densely white-bearded, deciduous. 

 Stylo slender, persistent : stigma 2dobed. Capsule globular, rather fleshy, inclined 

 to burst irregularly. Seeds not very numerous, but large in proportion : the seed- 

 coat hard, smooth and shining. — A single genuine species, flowering in sjjring. 



1. M. trifoliata, Linn. Low and smooth ])oronnin.l, with long and stout creep- 

 ing rootstocic, bearing alternate leaves, with long i)eiiolos sheathing at base, and 3 

 oblong leaflets : scapo naked, elongated, terminated by a short raceme of white or 

 pinkish flowers : anthers dark brown, sagittate : in soiuc flowers tho style, in others 

 the fllaments are long-exserted. 



In shallow water or wet ground, near San Francisco (Bigchiv), and Sierra Valley (^frs. Pulsifer 

 Ames) ; extending round the world in the nortliern portion of the temperate zone. 



OiiDER LOGANIACE^. There is a Buddhia in Coulter's Californian Collection, No. 625, 

 which we do not possess. As none has been detected since, it is more probable that Coulter's 

 specimen was gathered on the route to California^ as far south and east at least as Arizona. 



Order LXIIL POLEMONIACE^. 



Chiefly herbs, Avith bland and colorless juice, simple or divided leaves, and no 

 stipules ; readily distinguished from related orders by having all the parts of the 

 regular flower Ave, except the pistil, which has a 3-celled ovary and a 3-lobcd style; 

 the fruit a loculicidal 3 - many-seedod capsule, with placenta in the axis. Calyx 

 imbricated in the bud, persistent. Corolla convolute in the b\ul, not plaited, rarely 

 a little irregular. Stamens on tho corolla alternate with its lobes, distinct : anthers 

 introrse, opening lengthwise. Stigmas occupying the inner side of the narrow or 

 filiform lobes of the style. Valves of the capsule usually separating from a thickish 

 triangular axis, which bears the seeds : these amphitropous or nearly anatropous, 

 small, with a thin or soft coat, commonly developing mucilagn when wetted. Em- 

 bryo rather largo, straight, in tho axis nf flnshy albumiMi. — A fow havo eufl'rutoacent 

 or more woody stems. In Gilia, § 6, the cells of tho ovary and the stigmas are 

 occasionally reduced to two. — Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. viii. 247. 



Mainly an American and especially a North American and Mexican order, of few genera, but 

 many species, increasing in number westward, most abundantly represented in California ; of no 

 marked sensible qualities or economical uses, excepting ornamental cultivation. 



CoB-TvA scANDRNS, Cav., of Mcxico, a well-known cultivated climber, is an outlying member of 

 this order, its pinnate leaves tendril-bearing, and a large fleshy disk encircling the base of the 

 ovary. 



* Corolla quite regular : seeds wingless. 



1. Phlox. Stamens unequally inserted and included within the narrow tube of the salver- 



shaped corolla. Seed-coat unchanged in water. Leaves opposite, entire. 



2. Collomia. Stamens unequally inserted in or below the throat of the funnelform or salver- 



shaped corolla : filaments slender, often cxserted. Seeds copiously mucilaginous when 

 wet. Leaves all or mostly alternate, sometimes divided. 



3. Gilia. Stamens equally inserted on the throat or tube of the corolla : filaments not declined. 



Seeds almost always mucilaginous when wet. Leaves various. 



4. Polemonium. Filaments more or loss doclinod. Otiiorwiso nearly ns Oilia. Leaves all 



pinmilo mill iiltornnto, and corolla HJiort. 



♦ ♦ Corolla with limb somewhat iiregularly cleft : seeds wing-mnrgined. 

 6. LcBselia. Stamens more or loss oxscrted. Upper sinuses of tho corolla more deeply cleft 

 than the others. 



