GENTIANACE.E. (GENTIAN FAMILY.) 353 



2. B. v6ma, Muhl. Stem 1- few-flowered ; flowers 3 - 4" long, larger ; lobes 

 of the corolla spatulate, obtuse, spreading, thrice the length of the calyx ; anthers 

 oblong ; ovary flat. Boga near the coast, S. Va. to Fla. and La. March. 



8. OBOLARIA, L. 



Calyx of 2 spatulate spreading sepals, resembling the leaves. Corolla tubu- 

 lar-bell-shaped, withering-persistent, 4-cleft ; the lobes oval-oblong, or with age 

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

 rolla, short. Style short, persistent ; stigma 2-lipped. Capsule 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 spar- 

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

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

 sessile; in spring. (Name from 6fio\6s, a small Greek coin, from the thick 

 rounded leaves.) 



1. O. Virginica, L. Herbaceous and rather fleshy, the lower leaves 

 scale-like ; flowers 4" long. Moist woods, N. J. to 111., south to Ga. and Tex. 



9. MENYANTHES, Tourn. BUCKBEAN. 



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

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

 ward. Style slender, persistent ; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule bursting somewhat 

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

 alternate-leaved herb, with a thickish creeping rootstock, sheathed by the 

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

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

 (The ancient Theophrastian name, probably from id\v, month, and &vQos, a 

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



1. M. trifoliata, L. Bogs, N. J. and Penn. to Ind. and Iowa, and far 

 north and westward. May, June. (Eu., Asia.) 



10. LIMNANTHEMUM, Gmelin. FLOATING HEART. 



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

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

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

 sistent. Capsule 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 the 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 ; flowering all summer. (Name compounded of \i/u.vr), a marsh or pool, 

 and &vQtnov, a blossom, from the situations where they grow.) 



1. L. lacundsum, Grisebach. Leaves entire, round-heart-shaped ( 1 - 2' 

 broad), thickish ; petioles filiform; lobes of the (white) corolla broadly oval, 

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

 the lanceolate calyx-lobes ; style none ; seeds smooth and even. Shallow 

 water, from Maine to Minn., south to Fla. and La. 



