384 MENYANTHACfiAE (bUCKBEAN FAMILY) 



3. Swertia congesta A. Nels. 1. c. Commonly less than 2 dm. high: leaves 

 alternate, rarely more than 3 or 4, usually on the basal half of the stem, 

 elliptic to oblanceolate, obtuse or sllbacute, 3-6 cm. long: inflorescence con- 

 gested, usually subtended by a pair of foliar bracts,' flowers 5-merous, 3-7, 

 dark bluish-purple: sepals as in the preceding: corolla-lobes elliptic, obtuse, 

 usually emargihate, 8-10 mm. long, nearly half as broad; glands cup-shaped, 

 the setaceous appendages as long as the cup: filaments flat and thin, their 

 bases involved in a ring of very short, sparse, subulate setae in thie basi'of the 

 corolla: seeds small, very nunlerous, narrowly wing-iiiargined on the angles.— 

 Open Subalpine swales; Wyoming and Colorado. 



7. FRASERA Walt. 



Smooth herbs with erect stems, opposite or verticillate leavesjand nu- 

 merous flowers in thyrsoid or paniculate cymes. Corolla rotate, 4-parted, the 

 lobes bearing a single or double fringed gland, and sometimes a fimbriate 

 crown at base. Stamens inserted on the very base of the corolla; filaments 

 subulate, often united at base, occasionally with some interposed small bris- 

 tles or scales. Ovary ovate, tapering into a distinct and often slender, per- 

 sistent style; stigma small, 2-lobed or nearly entire. Capsule coriaceous. 



1. Frasera speciosa Griseb. Gent. 329. 1839. Stems 6-14 dm. high, very 

 leafy: leaves in fours and sixes; the radical and lowest cauline obovate or ob- 

 long, 2-3 dm. long; the upper lanceolate and at length linear: flowers very 

 nunierous in a long leafy thyrsus: lobes of the greenish-white or barely bluish 

 and 4ark-spotted corolla oval-oblong, bearing a pair of contiguous and densely 

 long-fringed glands about the middle, and a distajit,' transversely inserted and 

 setaceously multifid scale-like crown near the base. {F. mdcrdphylla Greene, 

 Pitt. 4: 186. 1900.) — In the mountains from Wyoming to Oregon and south- 

 ward to New Mexico and Arizona. 



la. Frasera speciosa scabra Jones, Zoe 4: 277. 1893. More or less puberu- 

 lent or scabro-puberulent on stem' and leaves. (F. scabra, F. stenopdtdUi; F. 

 aiigusUfdlia Rydb. Bull. Torr. Bot. Club 3?: 149. 1906.) — Seemingly the more 

 usual state in our range, and may therefore be recognized as a variety. 



93. MENYANTHACEAE G. Don. Buckbean Family 



Perennial aquatic ' or marsh herbs, with bas^,! or alternate leayes, and 

 clustered, regular, perfect flowers. Calyx deeply 5-parted, persistent. Co- 

 rolla 5-lobed or 5-cleft, the lobes induplicate-valvate, at least in the bud. 

 Stamens 5, borne on the' corolla, and alternate with its lobes; anther-sacs 

 longitudinally dehiscent ; pollen-grains 3-angled. Ovary 1-celled, the 2 pla- 

 centae sometimes intruded. Fruit a capsule, or indehiscent. 



1. MENYANTHES L. 



Leaves trifoliolate; other characters as given under the single species of the 

 genus. 



1. Menyanthes trifoliata L. Sp. Pl. 145. 1753. Rootstocks thick, scaly, 

 sometimes 3 dm. long: petioles sheathing at the base; leaflets oblong or obo- 

 vate, entire, obtuse, narrowed to the sessile base, 3-8 cm', long: raceme 10-20- 

 flowered; pedicels 6-25 mm. long, bracteolate at the base; flowers 10--12 mm. 

 long: calyx shorter than the white or purplish corolla: capsule ovoid, obtuse, 

 about 8 mm. long. — In bogs; circumpolar; south in our mountains to Col 

 orado. 



