GENTIANA.] GENTIANS^. 273 



obovate-oblong, obtuse or acute; cauline smaller, in distant pairs, all 3-5- 

 nerved. Flowers |-f in., solitary or few, shortly pedicelled; bracts small, 

 oblong. Calyx narrow-cam panulate, 5-angled and ribbed ; lobes subulate. 

 Corolla | in. diam., blue; lobes ovate, obtuse. Capsule subsessile. 

 DISTRIB. Arctic, and Mts. of N. and Mid. Europe, Arctic America. 



6. MENYAN'THES, Tournef. BUCK- OR BOG-BEAN. 



Perennial scapigerous marsh herbs. RootstocJc creeping. Leaves alter- 

 nate, 3-foliolate, petiole sheathing. Flowers racemose, dimorphous. Calyx 

 5-partite. Corolla fleshy, funnel-shaped, deciduous, limb 5-partite, disk 

 fimbriate, induplicate-valvate in bud. Stamens 5, inserted on the corolla- 

 tube. Disk of 5 hypogynous glands. Ovary 1-celled ; style filiform, 

 persistent, stigma 2-lobed ; ovules uniseriate on 2 parietal placentas. 

 Capsule globose, 1-celled, obscurely loculicidally 2-valved, many-seeded. 

 Seeds small, testa polished. DISTRIB. Europe (Arctic), N. Asia, N.W. 

 India, N. America ; species 2. ETYM. obscure. 



M. trifolia'ta, L. ; leaflets subsessile oblong or obovate. 

 Marshy and spongy bogs, N. to Shetland; ascends to 1,800 ft. in the Lake 

 district ; Ireland ; Channel Islands ; fl. May- July. Rootstocks stout, matted. 

 Leaflets 1^-3 in., obtuse, quite entire, ultimate nerves with free tips within 

 the larger areoles ; petiole 3-7 in., sheath long narrow. Scape longer than 

 the petioles, many-fld. Flowers in. diam., white or pink ; pedicels J | 

 in., stiff, spreading; bracts broad, short, obtuse. Sepals oblong, obtuse. 

 Corolla-lobes recurved, subacute. Stamens reddish. Capsule apiculate. 

 Bitter, reputed tonic and febrifuge ; used to add bitterness to beer ; root- 

 stock full of starch, hence eaten. 



7. LIMNAN'THEMUM, S. P. Gmel. 



Perennial water-herbs. Leaves alternate or opposite, floating, peltate 

 or cordate. Flowers yellow in sessile umbels that terminate short axillary 

 branches, dimorphous. Calyx 5-partite. Corolla rotate, membranous, 

 deciduous ; segments 5-8, erose, with 5-8 fimbriate scales at the base, 

 margins broadly inflexed in bud. Stamens 5-8, inserted on the corolla- 

 tube. Disk of 5-8 hypogynous glands. Ovary 1-celled ; style persistent, 

 stigmas 2 simple or lobed ; ovules many, placentas 2 parietal. Fruit 

 bursting irregularly, few- or many-seeded. Seeds small, testa smooth or 

 muricate. DISTRIB. Temp, and trop. regions ; species about 12. ETYM. 

 Aijuj>r/, a pool, and &v8os, a flower. 



I*, peltatum, Gmel. ; leaves opposite on the flowering-stems. L. 



nymphceoi'des, Link. Villars'ia nymphceoi'des, Vent. 



Still waters, rare, from Norfolk and Oxford to Sussex ; naturalized further 

 north, and in Scotland and Ireland ; fl. July-Aug. Rootstock creeping, with 

 alternate leaves. Flowering-stems floating ; their branches short, in the axils 

 of opposite leaves Leaves all petioled, orbicular, base deeply cordate, quite 

 entire, green, shining, purple-spotted above, opaque purplish and studded 

 with glands beneath ; petioles of radical leaves long, slender, not sheathing ; 

 of floating leaves shorter, stout, sheathing. Peduncles 1-3 in., crowded 



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