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MENYANTHES trifoliate
Common Buckbean.
S£.
P E N T A N D R 1 A Monogynia.
G en. Char. Corolla hairy. Stigma cloven. Capfule
o f i cell.
Spec. C har. Leaves ternate.
S y n . Menyanthes trifoliata. Linn. Sp. P l. 208.
■ Hudf. 85. With. 236. Relb. 82. S'lbth. 73.
Curt. Lond.fafc. 4. t. 17.
M. paluftre triphyllum latifolium et anguffifolium.
Rail Syn. 285.
O u R aquatic plants are thofe which principally vie with
the moll favoured exotics in beauty, and this is one of the moft
elegant of them. It is very frequent in watery places, in a
black boggy foil, and flowers in June or July.
Root perennial, long, round, throwing out many fibres deep
into the mud. Stem Spreading, clothed with the fheathing
foot-ftalks, each of which bears three obovate fmooth bluntly-
toothed or waved leaflets. Flower-ftalk oppofite to a leaf, but
fpringing from within its {heath, longer than the leaves, erect,
round, fmooth, bearing a Ample thyrfus of about 10 oY 15
flowers, accompanied by fmall ovate entire bra&ete. Calyx
with 5 blunt teeth. Corolla of one funnel-fhaped petal, deeply
divided into 5 lanceolate acute fegments, which are white
tipped with red, and clothed with long flefhy {haggy fibres on
their upper fide. This conftitutes the proper character of the
genus, though in fome fpecies the hairinefs is confined to the
edge, in others upon both parts, fee t. 217. Anthers fagittate.
Germen round. Stigma cloven and notched.
This herb is very bitter. An infufion of it was long ago
recommended' for the rheumatifm, and has been a popular
medicine in England. It has alfo been given for the gout,
fcurvy, ague, catarrh, and dropfy, a'formidable lift of dif-
orders: if it has any right to fuch celebrity, it mull a£t as a
powerful tonic.