Calyx of 2 spatulate spreading sepals, resembling the leaves. Corolla tubular-bell-shaped, withering-persistent, 4-cleft; the lobes oval-oblong, or with age spatulate, imbricated in the bud! Stamens inserted at the sinuses of the corolla, short. Style short, persistent; stigma 2-lipped. Capsule ovoid, 1-celled, the cell cruciform; the seeds covering the whole face of the walls.—A low and very smooth purplish-green perennial (3–8´ high), with a simple or sparingly branched stem, opposite wedge-obovate leaves; the dull white or purplish flowers solitary or in clusters of three, terminal and axillary, nearly sessile; in spring. (Name from ὀβολός, a small Greek coin, from the thick rounded leaves.)
1. O. Virgínica, L. Herbaceous and rather fleshy, the lower leaves scale-like; flowers 4´´ long.—Moist woods, N. J. to Ill., south to Ga. and Tex.
9. MENYÁNTHES, Tourn. Buckbean.
Calyx 5-parted. Corolla short funnel-form, 5-cleft, deciduous, the whole upper surface white-bearded, valvate in the bud with the margins turned inward. Style slender, persistent; stigma 2-lobed. Capsule bursting somewhat irregularly, many-seeded. Seed-coat hard, smooth, and shining.—A perennial alternate-leaved herb, with a thickish creeping rootstock, sheathed by the membranous bases of the long petioles, which bear 3 oval or oblong leaflets; the flowers racemed on the naked scape (1° high), white or slightly reddish. (The ancient Theophrastian name, probably from μήν, month, and ἄνθος, a flower, some say from its flowering for about that time.)
1. M. trifoliáta, L.—Bogs, N. J. and Penn. to Ind. and Iowa, and far north and westward. May, June. (Eu., Asia.)
10. LIMNÁNTHEMUM, Gmelin. Floating Heart.
Calyx 5-parted. Corolla almost wheel-shaped, 5-parted, the divisions fringed or bearded at the base or margins only, folded inward in the bud, bearing a glandular appendage near the base. Style short or none; stigma 2-lobed, persistent. Capsule few–many-seeded, at length bursting irregularly. Seed-coat hard.—Perennial aquatics, with rounded floating leaves on very long petioles, which, in most species, bear near the summit the umbel of (polygamous) flowers, along with a cluster of short and spur-like roots, sometimes shooting forth new leaves from the same place, and so spreading by a sort of proliferous stolons, flowering all summer. (Name compounded of λίμνη, a marsh or pool, and ἄνθεμον, a blossom, from the situations where they grow.)
1. L. lacunòsum, Grisebach. Leaves entire, round-heart-shaped (1–2´ broad), thickish, petioles filiform; lobes of the (white) corolla broadly oval, naked, except the crest-like yellowish gland at the base, twice the length of the lanceolate calyx-lobes; style none; seeds smooth and even.—Shallow water, from Maine to Minn., south to Fla. and La.
2. L. trachyspérmum, Gray. Leaves larger (2–6´ broad) and rounder, thicker, often wavy-margined or crenate, roughish and dark-punctate or pitted beneath; petioles stouter; seeds glandular-roughened.—Ponds and streams, Md. and Va. to Fla. and Tex.
Order 70. POLEMONIÀCEÆ. (Polemonium Family.)