390 GENTIANACKE. (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 ; in 

 spring. (Name from o/3oXos, a small Greek coin ; to which, however, the 

 leaves of this plant bear no manifest resemblance.) 



1. O. Virginica, L. (Gray, Chlor. Bor.-Am., t. 3.) Rich soil, in woods, 

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



8. MENYANTHES, Tourn. 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 rootstock, 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 (lhigh), white or slightly reddish. 

 (The ancient Theophrastian name, probably from \u\v, month, and avQos, a 

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



1 . M. trif oliata, L. Bogs, New England to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, 

 and northward. May, June. (Eu.) 



9. 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 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 : flowering all summer. (Name compounded of At'/uiry, a marsh or pool, 

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



1. L. lacunbsum, Grisebach (partly). Leaves entire, round-heart-shaped 

 (!'- 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; seeds smooth and even. (Villarsia 

 lacunosa, Vent. V. cordata, Ell.) Shallow water, from Maine and N. New 

 York to Virginia and southward. 



2. L. trachysp6rmum, Gray. Leaves larger (2' -6' broad), and rounder, 

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

 beneath ; petioles stouter ; seeds g/andular-rouyhened. (Menyanthes trachysperma, 

 Michx.) Ponds, Maryland ( W. M. Canby] and southward. 



