114 



GENTIANACEiE. 



Sabbatia. 



elliptical -lanceolate lobes of the corolla. — Pursh, fl. 1. p. 138 ; Ell. sk. 1. p. 286 ; Torr. 

 fl. I. p. 218 ; Bigel. fl. Bost. p. 76 ; Beck, hot. p. 242 ; Griseb. Gent. p. 124. Chlora 

 dodecandra, Linn. sp. 1. p. 190. Chironia chloroides, Michx. fl. 1. p. 147. 



Biennial. Stem 1-2 feet high, sometimes simp'e and one-flowered, but usually more or 

 less branched and bearing from 3 to 10 flowers. Radical leaves obovate-spatulate : upper 

 ones lanceolate, 1 - 2 inches long, acute or obtuse. Flowers often two inches in diameter. 

 Corolla bright rose-color ; the segments rather acute or obtuse. 



Brackish bog meadows on the Island of New-York, and on Long Island. August. A very- 

 showy plant. 



§ 2. MenyanthEjE, Endl. JEstivation of the corolla induplicate. 

 7. MENYANTHES. Linn. ; Endl. gen. 3564 ; Griseb. Gent. p. 340. buckbean. 



[ So named from the Greek, 7nene, a month, and anthos, a flower ; in allusion to its emmenagogue virtues.] 



Calyx 5-parted. Corolla funnelform, 5-cleft ; the border spreading, 5-lobed, hairy inside. 

 Style filiform : stigma capitate, 2-lobed. Capsule 1 -celled : placentas in the middle of the 

 valves (loculicidal). — An herbaceous plant, growing in swamps, with a creeping rhizoma, 

 ternately divided leaves, and the flowers in a simple raceme. 



1. Menyanthes trifoliata, Linn. Buckbean. Marsh Trefoil. 



Linn. sp. 1. p. 145 ; Engl. hot. t. 495 ; Michx. fl. I. p. 125 ; Pursh, fl. 1. p. 139 ; Bigel. 

 fl. Bost. p. 77, and med. hot. t. 46 ; Torr. fl. I. p. 214 ; Beck, hot. p. 244 ; Hook.fl. Bor.- 

 Am. 2. p. 70 ; Griseb. I. c. 



Perennial. Rhizoma thick, creeping horizontally to a considerable distance, marked at 

 intervals with scars left by the former petioles. Leaves on long petioles, which are sheathing 

 at the base : leaflets obovate, obscurely toothed or nearly entire. Peduncles scape-like, 

 ascending, longer than the leaves. Raceme 10 - 15-flowered ; the pedicels thick, straight ; 

 lower ones about half an inch long. Calyx much shorter than the corolla ; the segments 

 oblong, obtuse. Corolla white tinged with red, beautifully bearded with white hairs on the 

 inside. Stamens scarcely half the length of the corolla : anthers oblong- sagittate. Style 

 exserted, persistent : stigma 2-lobed. Capsule ovoid. Seeds numerous, minute, rough. 



Swamps and margins of ponds ; not common. May. A popular as well as officinal medicine. 

 It is tonic, diuretic or purgative, according to the dose ; and has been employed in intermit- 

 tents, chronic rheumatism, etc. 



