GENTIANACEiE. 79 
imperfectly loculicidally dehiscent ; valves bearing the placentae 
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 /.ujy (meii), a month, and uvQor 
(aid/tos), a flower, as continuing a month in bloom. 
SPECIES I.— M E N Y A N T H E S TRIFOLIATA. Linn 
Plate DCCCCXX. 
Reich. Ic. FL Germ, et Helv. Vol. XVII. Tab. MXLIII. 
Billot, Fl. Gall, et Germ. Exsicc. No. 103S. 
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, 6 to 18 inches 
high, longer than the leaves, leafless. Elowers f inch across, white, 
tinged with pink on the outside, disposed in an irregularly- whorled 
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 exserted, reddish-purple. Cap- 
sules green tinged with purple, about the size of peas, globular, 
abruptly acuminate. Seeds reddish-brown. Plant green, glabrous. 
Common Buchbean. 
French, Menyanthe Trefle d Ban. German, Dreiblatlrigcr Biber. 
The common name of this plant is believed by some botanists to have originally 
been boybeau, which, from its French synonym, tre/le des marais, is very plausible, says 
Dr. Prior. In German it is called Bocksbohne, ami is considered a remedy against the 
scharbock or scurvy; whence it is called Scha/rbock's Klee. Buehesbeom, and not 
bogbean, is the name of it in all the old herbals. The Buckbcan 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 
