Buckbean
Menyanthes trifoliata. Gentian Family.
Scape.--About one foot high. Leaves.--Long-stemmed; divided into three oblong leaflets. Flowers.--White or reddish; clustered along the scape. Calyx.--Five-parted. Corolla.--Five-cleft; short funnel-form; white; bearded on the upper surface. Stamens.--Five. Pistil.--One, with a two-lobed stigma. If luck favors us, in May or early June, we are tempted deep into the long grass of some treacherous swamp by the beautiful white flowers of the buckbean. These grow about one foot above the ground, the white beards which fringe their upper surfaces giving them a peculiarly delicate and feathery appearance.