Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains
38. Menyanthaceae, the Buckbean Family
1. Menyanthes L. -- Buckbean1. Menyanthes trifoliata L.
Glabrous, rhizomatous perennial with flowering scapes 1.5-3.5 dm tall; rhizome thick, covered with old leaf bases. Leaves all basal, with the sheathing petiole bases arranged alternately on the rhizomes, the blades palmately 3-foliate, the leaflets elliptic to oblong or oblanceolate to obovate, 3-10 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, entire or sometimes coarsely undulate-dentate. Inflorescence a scapose, bracteate raceme, surpassing the leaves; bracts mostly 3-5 mm long; pedicels 4-20 mm long. Flowers perfect, regular, 5(4-6)-merous, often dimorphic, some flowers with exserted stamens and included style, others with exserted style and included stamens; calyx deeply divided, the oblong-ovate lobes 1.5-3 mm long; corolla whitish or pinkish, salverform, lobed to near or below the middle, 8-12 mm long, the lobes eventually recurved, conspicuously fringed on the inner surface; stamens usually 5, epipetalous; stigma 2-lobed, style elongate, ovary ca. 1/3 inferior, 1-celled. Fruit a globose, corky-walled capsule 6-10 mm in diameter, rupturing irregularly, containing many shiny, yellowish-brown seeds. Jun--Aug. Fens and old bogs; rare, with scattered records from ND, SD and n NE; (Circumboreal, s in N.Amer. to DE, VA, OH, MO, SD, CO and CA).
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