390 GENTIANACE.E. (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/3o\or, a small Greek coin ; to which, however, the 

 leaves of this plant bear no manifest resemblance.) 



1. O. Virginiea, 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 (l°high), white or slightly reddish. 

 (The ancient Theophrastian name, probably from /xiji/, month, and avdos, a 

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



1. M. trifoliata, L. — Bogs, New England to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, 

 q^_ 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 \ifivn, a marsh or pool, 

 and <"ivdffj.ov, a blossom, from the situations where they grow.) 



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

 - ov. (l'-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. traehyspermum, Gray. Leaves larger (2' -6' broad), and rounder, 

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

 beneath ; petioles stouter ; seeds glandular-rouykened. (Menyanthes trachysperma, 

 Michx.) — Ponds, Maryland ( IF. M. Ccmby) and southward. 



