348 GENTIANACEJS. (GENTIAN FAMILY.) 



spatulato, imbricated in the bud ! Stamens inserted at the sinuses of tho 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. 

 (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. Dor.- Am., t. 3.) Eich soil, in 

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

 April, May. 



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 (1 high), white or slightly reddish. 

 (The ancient Theophrastian name, probably from \ir\v, month, and avdos, afloiver, 

 some say from its flowering for about that time.) 



1. 1TI. trifoliata, L. Bogs, New England to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, 

 and northward. May, June. (Eu.) 



9. LIMNANTHEMUM, Gmelin. FLOATING HEART. 



Calyx 5-partcd. 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. (Name compounded of XI'/AI/T;, a marsh or pool, and avQepov, a blossom, 

 from the situations where they grow.) 



1. It. lacniidsum, Griseb. (partly). Leaves round-heart-shaped, thick- 

 ish ; lobes of the (white) corolla broadly oval, naked, except the crest-like yel- 

 lowish 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 ponds, from Maine and N. New York to Virginia and southward. 

 June -Sept. Leaves l'-2' broad, entire, on petioles 4' -15' long, according 

 to the depth of the water. 



L. TRACHYSPERMUM of the South has roughened seeds as its name denotes, 

 and is entirely distinct. 



