GENTIAN AC E.E. 79 



imperfectly loculicidally dehiscent ; valves bearing the placenta) 

 along their middle line. Seeds very numerous. 



An aquatic herb, with creeping rhizomes and stalked trifoliate 

 leaves, with obvate entire segments. Flowers in racemes, white, 

 tinged with pink on the outside. 



The name of this genus of plants comes from /i>]v (men), a month, and avdog 

 (anihos), a flower, as continuing a month in bloom. 



SPECIES I.— MENYANTHES TRIFOLIATA. Linn 



Plate DCCCCXX. 



Reich. Ic. Fl. Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MXLIII. 

 Bi/lol, FL Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 1038. 



The only known species. 



In spongy bogs, marshes, and shallow water. Generally distri- 

 buted. Rather scarce in the South of England ; common in the 

 North and in Scotland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Perennial. Early Summer. 



Rootstock thick, creeping. Leaves alternate, with the petioles 

 dilated and sheathing at the base ; leaflets 3, oval-obovate, scarcely 

 stalked, 1| to 4 inches long, entire. Scapes axillary, G to IS inches 

 high, longer than the leaves, leafless. Flowers J inch across, white, 

 tinged with pink on the outside, disposed in an irregularly-whorlcd 

 raceme, with 3 flowers in a whorl. Bracts ovate, sub-scarious, 

 shorter than the pedicels. Calyx 5-partite ; segments oblong-lan- 

 ceolate, rather obtuse. Corolla more than twice as long as the 

 calyx ; segments 5, oblong-oblanceolate, sub-acute, recurved at the 

 apex, glabrous on the outside, densely bearded with thick white 

 hairs on the inside. Stamens slightly exscrted, reddish-purple. Cap- 

 sules green tinged with purple, about the size of peas, globular, 

 abruptly acuminate. Seeds reddish-brown. Plant green, glabrous. 



Common Buckbean. 



French, Menyanlhe Trefle dEau. German, Dreiblaltriger Biber. 



The common name of this plant is believed by some botanists to have originally 

 been boijbean, which, from its French synonym, trefle des marais, is very plausible, says 

 Dr. Prior. In German it is called Bocksbohne, and is considered a remedy against the 

 scharbock or scurvy ; whence it is called Scharbock's Klee. Buckesbean, and not 

 bogbean, is the name of it in all the old herbals. The Buckbean is used in medicine 

 as a tonic and febrifuge. The leaves are chiefly employed ; they are collected in the 

 summer and dried ; one hundred pounds of the fresh foliage yielding about thirty-nine 

 when dry. An extract is made from them, which possesses strong tonic properties 

 due to a principle- known as Menyanthin. The intense bitter of the leaves has led to 

 their being substituted for hops in brewing, and large quantities of them are collected 



